The Perfect Light
by TwiAddictAnne
Summary: I wanted the truth...I needed to know the truth and he was going to help me. Mostly Human. Canon couples. Rated for language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: No copyrights infringement intended. No publicly recognizable entities are mine.**

**A/N: To my old readers, welcome back to another adventure we're gonna take part in together and to my new readers, welcome to this crazy adventure we're gonna embark upon.**

**The Perfect Light**

**Chapter-1: Prologue**

The rain keeps on falling like it has the entire day, hitting the windshield of the rusty old truck as it rolls down the empty streets of Seattle.

As the intensity of the rain increases, James Madison, a well-known criminal in the Seattle underworld, pushes the switch to make the windshield wipers move faster. But in the face of the pouring rain, it doesn't do any good.

"Fucking rain," James cusses as he drives on.

The dim light coming from the headlights fail to cut through the darkness of the night. In fact, to James, it feels like the stupid lights are intensifying the darkness even more.

From the opposite end, a six-wheeler truck can be seen coming. For an instant, James wonders if he should slow down because the jackass driving the other truck seems a little out of it—judging by the crazy way it drives straight for them.

At the last moment, the truck passes them—thankfully without crashing into them—but at the same time, splashing the windshield with the water that has gathered on the road.

The water rolls down the windshield, making it impossibly dark inside the car for a few minutes, and finally, the second man sitting in the truck acknowledges the situation.

Laurent Grissom turns his head to the side, casting a glass-eyed stare toward James and says in an admonishing tone, "Slow down, Jim."

James drives by a drunken passerby, sending water flying in his direction, and then grins at his boss. "No need to worry, Boss. You're riding with Mad Jim. I ain't gonna crash," he boasts.

Laurent's voice is cold as steel when he replies quietly, "That's what scares me the most, Jim."

"What's that, Boss? Why would you say that?" James asks, feeling worried all of a sudden.

"I'm saying that because you don't think before doing shit," Laurent replies quietly.

James moves his head to the right, peeking at Laurent's face in a hope to gauge his mood.

Unfortunately, the sky has darkened even more, making it impossible to see his face. James thinks for a moment before deciding to take the admonishment lightly. He laughs out loudly, louder than he would usually, and says, "Don't you worry, Boss. No steering wheel has yet dared to betray Mad Jim."

Laurent grinds his teeth and asks angrily, "Then what has betrayed you, you fucktard?"

His tone sends a chill down James's bones. James looks at the silent, olive-skinned man with dreadlocks sitting beside him.

Laurent Grissom, known as the One-Eyed Grissom in the Seattle underworld, was one of the most terrifying criminal Seattle has seen in two decades. He was in the business of brothels when a cop caught and tortured him, and before letting him go he curved one of Laurent's eyes out as a reminder of their encounter. That made Laurent to give up the world of prostitution and he joined the big league—drug trafficking.

In the past eighteen years, Laurent has earned the respect of all the crime families in Washington and nearby states. Laurent lived by a simple rule, which made him king of the Seattle drug world—he never let his opponent raise his head before striking—a rule that James has tried to adopt since joining The Grissom Gang.

James tries to reason with himself that he was not Laurent's opponent. He was his most loyal minion, if you disregard the fact that he has been fucking Laurent's wife, Victoria, for about a month now.

_But Vicky swore he doesn't know shit about us_, James tells himself.

Worrying if Laurent has indeed found out his secret, James asks in a shaky voice, "Did you say something, Boss?"

"Nothing. Keep driving," Laurent replies coldly.

James doesn't say anything else because frankly, no matter how much he boasts about being 'Mad Jim,' he doesn't have the guts to face the wrath of The One-Eyed Grissom.

After driving through another mile, James decides to take the risk and asks timidly, "How much further do you want to go, Boss?" He was supposed to fly solo tonight. It was just a matter of dumping two bodies, but when Laurent insisted to tag along, James held his tongue.

Laurent doesn't say anything, just moves his chin forward, indicating him to keep on driving. Then he reaches under his seat and pulls out the flask of Vodka he always carries with him. He unscrews the cap with his teeth and lets it fall on his lap.

Laurent takes a few long pulls from the flask, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and then holds the flask out toward James. "Here."

James feels the thirst for alcohol burn his throat but shakes his head nonetheless, not sure if this was a test of loyalty of not. "No, Boss. I ain't thirsty."

As the truck passes under a streetlamp, James sees Laurent frown at him and immediately offers an explanation. "The tires are skidding in the wet roads. I won't drink now, Boss. Drinking makes my hands shake."

Laurent's jaw hardens as he says in a commanding voice, "Who the fuck is asking you to get drunk? Take a sip."

James realizes that he was not being offered, he was being ordered to drink. So he holds the steering wheel steady in one hand and reaches for the flask with the other. After taking a few sips, he hands the flask back to Laurent.

While handing it back, he chances a glance at Laurent's face. As he sees the look on the mob boss's face, he feels his insides churn with an unknown fear. Because in the dim light coming from the dashboard of the truck, Laurent's face appears to be expressionless—just like it gets right before he makes a kill.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

After another hour of aimless driving, the rain seems to reduce down to a light drizzle.

Laurent pulls the window down and immediately feels cold air enter the truck. It's close to midnight so the streets look empty, only a few cars driving by now and then. They are in a residential area. The lake situated in the middle of the area seems to be ready to overflow at any moment with the rain water falling on it. This is the area where the filthy rich people lived.

Laurent doesn't look at James as he orders him, "Stop the truck."

James's voice sounds shaky as he repeats the words in a question. "S-Stop the truck?"

"Yes."

Another chill runs down his spine as James looks out at the deserted street around them. He suppresses the urge to ask Laurent why he wants him to stop the car and prepares to do as instructed.

In a weak voice, James tries to reason with his boss one last time. "It's raining outside, Boss."

Laurent gives him a stony stare, his prosthetic eye making James feel uneasy, and then asks in a roar, "What the fuck do you expect to fall from the sky? Fucking pee?"

James gulps and decides that it is safer to keep his mouth shut. He stops the truck by the side of the road. He debates whether to shut off the engine or not but in the end, looks at Laurent for instruction.

"Go to the back. There are three bodies in there. Take those out. We'll dump them in the lake," Laurent orders him.

Nodding, James shuts off the engine and steps out of the truck. As he starts walking toward the trunk, he frowns. He was the one who picked up the bodies and put them in the trunk and he clearly remembers putting _two _bodies there ... not _three_.

When he reaches the back of the truck, he sees the two dead bodies lying there ... just the way he thought they would be.

Unable to figure out what Laurent wants, James turns around to walk back up to the passenger side window and the sight that greets him makes him freeze in horror.

Standing there ... facing him ... is Laurent with his Glock pointed right at his forehead.

James recognizes the gun because it is the same one Laurent used a few hours ago to kill Peter and Charlotte Styles—Peter, for not repaying the debt he owed to Laurent and Charlotte, just for being Peter's wife.

All on a sudden, James realizes that his small, insignificant life is about to come to an end. Even in the darkness of the night, he can detect the brightness of Laurent's eye as he stares at him with a blank look. In the few years James has served Laurent, he has seen this look in his eyes many times—each time just before he made a kill.

In a hoarse voice, James stutters, "Wha-what have I done, Boss?"

Laurent grits his teeth and asks venomously, "You don't know what you've done, you asshole?"

James takes a step back and says while shaking his head vigorously, "No, Boss, I swear on my mother's grave ..."

"Shut up, you fucktard. Don't bring your dead mother into this. This is all on you," Laurent growls.

James opens his mouth to try to defend himself when Laurent speaks again. "You think I didn't realize that you were banging my wife behind my back, Jim? Really? How could you be such an idiot?"

The sardonic tone of Laurent's voice makes James try one last time. "Boss, please," he begs, "I have been faithful to you all these years. It was a mistake. Believe me, Boss ..."

A vindictive smile plays on Laurent's lips as he says, "Of course I believe you, Jim. I have always believed you. You have been a good puppy all this time ... you should be rewarded for your service. You know what I'm gonna reward you with?"

James tries to speak but Laurent beats him to it. "I'm gonna reward you with a quick death, Jim. Turn around and close your eyes, will ya? I'll count to five and then shoot you right in between your eyes. That's the cleanest way to go. See how kind I am, Jim?"

In that moment, James knows that his time is up. He is going to die right now. His body will lie on the muddy streets of Seattle for people to stare at and finally, he will be lying on one of the tables in a morgue with a tag saying 'John Doe' tied to his big toe.

As he stands there, feeling sorry for his worthless life, a sudden ray of bright white light shatters the darkness of the night as it falls straight down from the sky to the ground. A whooshing sound accompanies the light as the source of the light flies toward the lake behind him.

For a moment, Laurent gets distracted and stares at the light, and one moment of Laurent's distraction is exactly what James needs.

Like a desperate man, James jumps at Laurent, knocking the gun out of his hand and then shoving him to the ground. He blindly starts throwing punches at the man he had always addressed as 'Boss.'

With animalistic brutality he punches the man, not caring when the blood from Laurent's injured face makes his hand sticky.

Laurent seems to regain his bearing and starts to try to throw James off of him. After a few tries he manages to push him away and stands up slowly. But James, being the younger and quicker of the two, grips the gun from the ground, leaps back up and points it to Laurent's chest.

In his attempt to survive, James doesn't see the small aircraft-like machine that resurfaces from the lake. A small door on it opens and a slightly slimy thing slips out of the aircraft.

Even if James didn't notice it, Laurent does. He stares at the slimy moving thing for a long moment before James pulls the trigger and within moments, Laurent's dead body lies at his feet—with an expression of horror etched on his face.

As a precaution and because he hates the man, James empties the whole magazine in Laurent's brain. Then, dropping the gun beside the dead body, he walks back to the truck.

James opens the door and plops down on the seat of the truck. He still cannot believe that he has just killed One-eyed Grissom, the most terrorizing man in all of Seattle.

Reaching down under the passenger seat, James pulls out the Vodka flask Laurent always carried with him. He twists open the cap and throws some of the liquid down his throat, trying to calm his nerves.

In his attempt to soothe him nerves, James fails to notice the slimy thing moving toward Laurent's lifeless body.

The creature tears open Laurent's chest and enters his body. Instantly, Laurent's dead eyes open and shine in a bright red hue. Very slowly the body stands up and in small steps start to walk toward the lake.

After taking several long pulls from the flask, James puts the cap back on and drops it on the truck floor. Then he steps out of the car, intending to dump all three dead bodies into the lake. However, what he finds leaves him speechless.

The spot where he left Laurent's body is empty … with no body in sight.

In a panic, James turns around and meets the most terrifying sight he has ever seen. Standing there was none other than Laurent, with bright red eyes and something metallic protruding from the part of his brain James blew off not even an hour ago.

Fear grips James as he wracks his brain for the right thing to do. The bright red eyes staring at him make him sputter, "B—Boss, I … I panicked …"

The body standing before him tilts its head to the side and reaches out with its hands for him.

Instinct makes James turn around and start to run. But he only manages to take a few steps before a hand grabs his neck from behind in a vice-like grip. Before James can utter another word his spinal cord breaks and his lifeless body falls down to the ground in a heap.

Unfortunately, for the people of earth, this was just the beginning.

**A/N: Whoa! That came out pretty creepy, huh? Don't worry, people. I'm not a big fan of creepiness. So, it will be fairly minimal in this story.**

**Let me know what you think and leave a review, please?**

**For now, this story will update once a week.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	2. Chapter-2: The Truth Junkie

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:****Thanks to every one of you, who have reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL. And a special thanks to all my readers from OTC who have followed me here to embark on this crazy ride with me. Thank you. :)**

**Chapter-2: The Truth Junkie**

**BPOV**

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all, B. This has trouble written all over it." A lazy smile creeps up on my lips as I listen to her slightly panicked voice.

I turn my head to the side to grin at my long time best friend and photo journalist side-kick, Alice Brandon. "Well, why the hell do you think I was so excited to come here, Al?" I ask her.

She pulls a face and snaps back, "Are you turning into an Adrenaline Junkie now?"

My grin broadens and I reply, "Nope, just a truth junkie. The way this story broke out, it smells a bit fishy to me."

She crosses her arms over her chest and huffs. "That's probably because of there are fish in that stupid lake," she points toward the lake behind us.

I shake my head and ask point-blank, "Are you going to take photos or not?"

She gives me a glare and remains firmly seated.

_I guess it's just gonna be me then._

I dismount my Harley Davidson XR-750, snatch Alice's digital camera from her surprised hands and straighten up my black riding jacket.

"Watch and learn, Al, watch and learn," I say before turning away from her and starting toward the crowd.

"Bell..a!" she calls from behind me, most probably hoping to change my mind. But I was Isabella Swan, staff reporter for The Seattle Times. And I was like a fucking pitbull when I got on track of news. So I ignore her and keep walking.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Just as I am about to pass the yellow security tape with the camera clutched in my hand, a red-faced and mustached policeman rushes in time to stop me. "Where do you think you're going?"

I show him the camera and say mildly, "I just want to take a few pictures."

He gives me a stink-eye and asks, "Didn't you see the tape? This is a crime scene, Miss and you are not allowed to pass this tape."

I try to keep my most practiced innocent smile firmly on my lips and flash him my badge. "I'm a journalist. So, I think I can be an exception to the no-passing rule, Officer."

"I don't care who you are," he says in a mulish manner. "When I say you're not allowed to pass, you're not allowed to pass. You can go and talk to my Chief. He's in the press box."

_All right, you jerk, you asked for it._

I let go of my sweet girl façade and narrow my eyes at him. "Oh, believe me; I _will_ go to your chief. But not to get a rain-downed version of the story, no, I will go to him to file a complaint against you."

His eyes widen and he asks in confusion, "You are trying to break the law and you're going to complain against me? What for?"

In a highly professional tone, I reply, counting with my fingers, "One, for harassing a journalist; two, for withholding information; and three, for trying to take away my civic right."

He looks even more confused as he repeats my words back to me, "Withholding information? Taking away your civic right? How?"

I give him a haughty look and nod. "Yes. As a citizen of The United States of America, I deserve to know the truth and you are not allowing me to find it out … ergo, you're trying to take away my civic right."

He looks bewildered for a moment and that is all I need. Quick as a lightning, I duck down under his outstretched arm and pass his precious security tape.

I manage to take a few shots of the dead body before Officer Jerkface shows up once more.

This time, his face is even redder than before. He tries to grab the camera in my hand, but I am smarter and quicker than him. I swiftly move it out of the range of his hands and then, taking a few steps back, snap a few pictures of him.

A look of shock comes over his face as he asks, "Why did you take my picture?"

I shrug. "I figured if your photo accompanied the article about journalist harassment, it would be an even more appreciated piece."

Then, I turn my gaze down at the body lying before us and ask in a business-like voice, "This guy was known as 'Mad Jim?' I heard that One-Eyed Grissom was with him last night as well. Have you found Grissom? Is he suspected to be dead as well? Has any attempt been made to locate Grissom, yet?"

Officer Jerkface doesn't reply to my rapid-fire questions. Instead, he just blinks.

I sigh, realizing that trying to get him to talk is a waste of my time and energy. I give him a frustrated look and mutter, "Meh, you're boring the hell out of me." And then, after taking one last look at Mad Jim's body, I decide to try my luck with the crowd assembled around the security tape.

Some people are just too curious about the dead. But hey, that's what makes my job easier sometimes.

As I turn to face the crowd, I notice the side-glances my outfit of jeans and black form-fitting jacket get from them. I let that slide off and plaster a sweet smile on my face as I walk toward them.

When I reach them, I hold up the camera in my hands and ask politely, "Can I take a picture of you guys?"

Most of them nod, smiles creeping up on their faces involuntarily just at the name of taking a picture. However, a woman steps forward and narrows her eyes at me and asks in a rather rude tone, "Why?"

In my head, I curse the bitch before widening my smile and replying innocently, "You guys are the witnesses of important news. The newspaper would like get a photo of you all."

Her face softens a bit. "You work for a newspaper?"

I decide to go all out and flash my badge at her and then, say, "I work for The Seattle Times."

She smiles and steps back to stand with the rest of the crowd, silently giving me the 'go ahead' to take the picture I most certainly did not need.

_But taking pictures makes people happy and when they are happy, they get chatty, letting slip valuable information some time._

After snapping a few pictures, I ask them in a conversational tone, "So, what do you think happened here last night?"

A man with a bald patch in the center of his head shrugs. "The police say that it was just a freak accident, like a thunderstorm."

I cannot keep my exasperation in check and shoot back, "But it didn't look like a thunderstorm, did it? I heard that the light that was seen here last night was a straight line of light, not a jagged one of thunder. Besides, Mad Jim's body shows signs of strangulation, not burn. So he didn't die because of lightning. And what about Laurent Grissom? Do you have any theories about where he might be?"

Some of the people look frazzled by my question, but bald-patch-guy shrugs once again. "I heard no sound of thunder though. So you may have a point there."

I give him a thankful smile and open my mouth but the woman who annoyed me in the beginning starts to talk. "I'll be glad if Grissom dies right along with James here. He is a fucked up piece of shit."

That sounds like another good piece of news, but I decide to stick to the one I was hunting down at the moment.

Offering her a sympathetic smile, I say, "I'm guessing he isn't very popular around here?"

The woman shakes her head vigorously. And before she could start talking about Grissom's deeds, I quickly interrupt, moving the conversation toward the direction I needed. "What is your take on the happenings of last night?" I ask her.

She doesn't even have to think for a second as she looks at James Maddison's body and says in a matter-of-fact tone, "It's just this place, nothing important."

My eyebrows pull up as I ask in confusion, "What do you mean?"

In a nonchalant way she waves her hand and says, "This area is cursed, you see. Every year someone dies around here." Then turning to look at the people around her, she asks, "You guys remember how the old lady, Kathy, died last year?"

Before I can stop her from changing the topic the people around us start to nod in agreement.

_Fucking awesome! Now I gotta deal with superstitious idiots_, I cuss the woman silently but continue to keep the eager smile on my face.

The bald dude now seems to become interested to share his experience and starts recounting the tale of old lady, Kathy—what to me, sounds like a simple case of walking in the middle of the road and being knocked down by a coming truck.

Soon the superstitious woman joins him and together they describe the accident in a way that makes me want to up-chuck my breakfast right then and there. But I am a professional. So, I don't brushfire them with puke.

Instead, I put on an interested face and act like I'm listening to them. After a few seconds, I even pull out my notepad and pretend to take notes of the shit they say.

_Who knows when something important comes out of their babbling, right?_

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

When I walk toward my bike, after thanking the crowd, I see Alice scowling from where she leans against my bike. She hates anyone touching her camera and just for that reason, I do exactly that—just to piss her off.

I grin cheekily at her and hold up my hand—waving her beloved camera before her.

Alice rolls her eyes and I cannot help but laugh at the sulky expression on her face. "See, Al? That's how it's done, kiddo. You should have taken notes."

"You can be such a crazy bitch, Bella Swan," she says at my sarcastic words.

I nudge her shoulder with mine. "You love this crazy bitch, Brandon. Admit it."

She shakes her head and once I am straddling my bike, she sits behind me, grasping the back of my leather jacket tightly. Just as I am about to start the engine, she grumbles, "I must be a crazy bitch to be your best friend."

I laugh out loudly and speed away from the scene.

_I have found my next assignment._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I feel impatient as I look at the Chief Editor of the newspaper, Michael Newton, who keeps shaking his head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the two other staff reporters from my team, Tyler Crowley and Eric Yorkie, exchange a look.

Just as I am contemplating about bursting out my Jedi mind tricks and make Mr. Newton agree to my request, he lets out a loud sigh and says, "No, Bella. I'm sorry, but these types of assignments are not for you."

Immediately, I go into defense mode and ask sharply, "What do you mean, Mr. Newton?"

He chuckles at my formal address. Usually, I call him Uncle Mike since he has been my dad's life-long friend. And the formal address tells him that I am getting pissed.

"Bella, you are a superb journalist. There's no doubt about that. But in the end, you are a superb _female _journalist. And for that, I cannot possibly give you a project that involves serial killers and murderers like Grissom and Mad Jim."

His words make me snap. I almost glare at him before pointing at Tyler and Eric and asking, "You don't think that I can do my job just as well as them?"

He shakes his head. "I'm not saying this to de-motivate you. You have always been one of my brightest reporters. I'm saying no, because I wouldn't have even allowed my own daughter to go after people like these. They are dangerous, Bella."

His soft spoken words calm me down a bit and I lean forward to say, "Uncle Mike, the murderers are dead. I'm not gonna go hunting after them. I just want to figure out how they died."

He looks at me in confusion and says, "I thought it was pretty clear how Mad Jim died, Bella. Grissom killed him before going down one of his hidey-holes."

Encouraged by the confused look on his face, I quickly tell him what I feel like are real mysteries. "No, Sir, that's not it. James was killed by strangulation, but the M.E. who performed his autopsy didn't find any fingerprints on the wound—as if the killer had his fingerprints wiped off. Besides, there were bullet casing found at the crime scene whereas James's autopsy report clearly states that he was strangled and not shot. There was also blood found at the scene which doesn't match James's."

Crowley coughs, probably getting ready to interrupt. So I ignore his fake-coughing fit and plow on. "There is also a matter of a mysterious light that the residents in that area agree to have seen coming down from the sky last night."

Uncle Mike opens his mouth but Crowley seems not too keen on keeping his pie-hole shut. "Sir, if I may?"

His request get a nod from Uncle Mike and he says in an I'm-the-most-brilliant-asshole-to-walk-the-face-of-earth voice, "Bel-lah, the 'light' those idiots seem to be so afraid of was nothing but plain lightning."

I can practically hear the air-quotes as he pulls a face talking about 'the light'.

I whirl around to face him and hit him with the facts I have accumulated so far. "Ty-ee-ler," I say, stretching his name in the same irritating manner he did mine, "Eyewitnesses say that the light came down in a straight line. But lightning is supposed to be jagged, right? Besides, the _lightning_, as you call it, was not accompanied by the sound of thunder."

His face darkens at my mocking tone and I turn back to Uncle Mike. "Some tracks have been found near the lake in the area. And a guy has claimed to have seen something hovering over that lake. I think it all indicates that…" I stop, not sure if my theory will be appreciated or not.

"What do you think it indicates, Bella?" Uncle Mike asks.

I take a deep breath and then launch into my theory. "I think that an extraterrestrial spaceship has come down to earth and after killing James Madison, it has abducted Laurent Grissom."

A few moments of silence follows and then a gagging sound comes before Crowley and Yorkie fall over each other, howling with laughter.

Yorkie manages to stop for a moment and says, "Damn! Mr. Newton, can you imagine the headline for tomorrow's Seattle Times? I think 'Extraterrestrial Creatures Abduct Godfather One-Eyed Grissom' has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

Before I can tear him a new one, Crowley joins him and snickers. "How about we publish a special edition tabloid for this? I can practically see the title, Eric." Then he says in a fake-serious tone, "Inter-Galaxy Love Affair: Seattle's own One-Eyed Grissom Scores An Alien Chick."

I feel my vision turning red with rage as I growl, "Crowley, shut it. I didn't spew garbage when you came up with a theory to export spiders."

Crowley shuts up and scowls at me. "I didn't say I want to export spiders. I said _valuable arachnids_."

"In other words, spiders," I shoot back and then turn to Uncle Mike. "So what's the decision, Sir? Can I have this assignment?"

Uncle Mike massages his temple for a moment and then with a sigh, he looks up at me with a sad look on his face. "Bella, listen to me. Journalism is a bit like the court of law—until you can prove anything, your theories don't mean a thing. So you can't just publish news saying that earth is being invaded by aliens. You have to have concrete proof for it."

I quickly shake my head in disagreement and say, "I'm not trying to publish ridiculous news to just increase out rating, Uncle Mike. What I'm saying can have a scientific explanation. I'm a student of science. I majored in Physics before getting my diploma in Journalism. I can feel that there's something going on in here."

Yorkie piques up at this and snickers. "Exactly, Swan. See, if you were just a student of Journalism, you would have known how ridiculous this sounds. You wouldn't try to find science everywhere."

Uncle Mike nods slowly. "Even though I don't appreciate the boys' tones, I'm afraid they're right. If you write a report saying that the state minister has just adopted a dog, people will never question it. But if you say that the dog can sing jazz, that will raise quite a few eyebrows, I'm afraid."

Suddenly I feel alone after hearing Uncle Mike side with them. In a subdued tone, I murmur, "I'm not saying that a dog can sing jazz."

Crowley grins and says, "Saying that aliens abducted One-Eyed Grissom and a dog can sing is pretty much the same thing, I think."

Uncle Mike clears his throat before asking, "I'm sure you see why I can't let you pursue that assignment, Bella, don't you?"

I feel rebellious and instead of answering him I ask back, "What if I can prove that my theory is correct?"

Uncle Mike rubs his temple once again and finally says, "Fine. If you want to chase after a cock-and-bull story, I won't stop you. But I have a few conditions."

"What are the conditions?" I ask stonily.

He holds up his fingers, counting the conditions as he states them. "First, you are not to take any undue risks. I don't want to have to give your mother the news that she lost her only child because of some fantasy aliens."

"And?"

"Second, no one can come to know that you're on this assignment. I don't want people to ask me why our reporter is sniffing around Pike's Place for aliens of all things."

I silently cuss the jackasses who snigger at me from behind and ask dryly, "Anymore to add to that?"

"Yes," Uncle Mike replies, "You are not to waste your office time on this thing. If you want to pursue this high stake assignment, do so after you've finished your regular assignment."

I feel my cheeks heat up at his words. Trying desperately to hold on to my self-control, I nod. "All right."

"Very good," Uncle Mike says with a smile. "The Spanish governor is supposed to inaugurate a high-end Spanish restaurant in Seattle today. Get on it. I want a critic on the restaurant, it's pricing and quality of food."

Realizing that I was being dismissed, I say a soft 'okay' and then stand up to leave.

Just as the door closes behind me, laughter erupts from within the room. I can hear Uncle mike shushing the two knuckleheads and saying that I was a damn good reporter. But to me, that doesn't mean jack.

I feel my resolution strengthen.

_I don't give a fuck about what anyone say, I am going to find out the truth if it is the last fucking thing that I do._

**A/N: So, thoughts?**

**Share them with me and leave a review, please?**

**The song I listened to while writing this chapter: Complicated by Avril Lavigne.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	3. Chapter-3: The Crazy Scientist

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL. I love you guys for your support. :***

**Chapter-3: The Crazy Scientist**

**BPOV**

The next couple of days, I work my ass off, trying to find out enough facts to shut the gloating faces of Crowley and Yorkie. I also act very formally around Uncle Mike. I know that he was acting out of concern for me, but the fact still remains that he sided with the fuckers when he should have been supportive of my theory—no matter how crazy it sounded to him.

_Yeah, I am so not childish sometimes._

I have received a few bits of information that have left me believing something weird is definitely going on.

First of all, I have tried to track down One-Eyed Grissom. But it looks like the guy has just vanished into thin air. I would actually agree with Uncle Mike's comment about him hiding somewhere if I hadn't heard about Aro Volturi.

It is the unwritten rule of the underworld. Whenever one big boss goes off, another takes his place…and within three days after Grissom's disappearance, all his territory has been encroached by a new regime—Aro Volturi's.

To me, that seems like a fair indicator that Grissom, wherever he is, is in no condition to come and have a showdown with Volturi; because if he did, Volturi would never have dared to take his place to begin with.

The second bit of information is related to the mysterious light. I have gone back with Alice and asked around the local people and both of us got the same responses.

That night, about an hour after midnight, a light was seen to come down from the sky to the earth. It was not jagged in the ends like a lightning bolt; rather it looked straight as a needle. The moment it touched the ground, the whole area was illuminated for a few seconds before the light seemed to disappear—just like that.

Alice actually came up with a theory of her own and said that that much light could mean that it was a meteor.

_That girl was hell bent on trying to prove that everything was okay._

However, I disproved her theory by saying that if a meteor that big crashed into earth, it would cause real damage to the surrounding area—leaving a crater in the place it landed—which it did not. Besides, if a meteor crashed on earth, astrophysicist would be all over the place.

This brings me to the third bit of information I found. It seemed not only my coworkers are unimaginative morons, but all the great scholars of our city were pretty much self-absorbed twits. I have reached out to all the renowned professors, trying to get an idea from their intakes, but none of them seemed even a bit interested in the matter.

It wasn't until I spoke to my old college professor, Dr. Banner, from UDub that I had any idea about to whom I should ask for help.

Dr. Banner listened to my ranting about spaceships and shit and didn't look at me like I was out of my damn mind. Instead, he gave me a sad smile and said, "Sorry, Swan. I can't help you. But if Cullen was here, that boy would definitely help you out."

I frowned, not recognizing the name. "Who are you talking about, Professor?"

He scratched his head and replied, "Edward Cullen—the brightest kid I have ever had the pleasure of having in my class. He is three batches senior to you, I think. Yes, yes, the kid graduated early with distinction and a gold medal the year you joined my physics 101 class."

I reached for my notebook and asked him, "Sir, do you know where I can find Mr. Cullen?"

He chuckled. "Not Mr., kid, Dr. Dr. Cullen. After getting his degree, he went to MIT and there he got a PhD in Information Technology and Communications." He looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "He went to work for that Swiss place, you know? He worked there on extraterrestrial communication."

I was about to ask what Swiss place he was talking about when Dr. Banner shook his head regretfully. "Such a waste of talent, that boy. He could do so much with his brains, but went to work on science fiction, instead. Much like you, Swan," he finished, looking at me critically.

I let the judgmental words slip right off of me.

_I knew why I chose this profession and I was fucking awesome at what I did._

Instead, I tried to bring him back on the subject of Cullen. "So, do you know how I can contact Dr. Cullen?"

Dr. Banner shrugged and replied, "Don't have a clue, kid. Sorry. The last I heard of him, he had gotten in a fight with one of his colleagues and after giving the guy a black eye, he left the job. He contacted me about a year ago, saying that he's back in town and was planning on staying around for a while. That's all I can tell you about him."

I smiled and thanked my professor. "Don't worry, sir. I'm sure I'll be able to find Dr. Edward Cullen in a heartbeat."

_However, I was too fucking wrong._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I am brought out of my reverie by the sound of a hand knocking on the top of my desk. I open my eyes to see Alice standing there with a curious look on her face.

"You okay there, Junkie girl?" she asks sarcastically, bringing up the conversation we had a few weeks ago.

I let out a frustrated sigh and shake my head. "No. This guy is eluding me, Al, and I don't like it."

She brings a hand to her chest and feigns a shock. "You? Really? Someone has the guts to elude the famed Isabella Swan?"

I scowl at her. "Shut it, Short Round. I'm really freaking the fuck out right now."

Her face softens and with a slight smile on her lips, she says, "Short Round is here for you, Indie."

I start to roll my eyes at her when the manila envelope in her hands catches my eyes. "Alice, what's that?" I ask.

She holds it up and dangles it in front of me. "This, my friend, is your ticket to finding the elusive Edward Cullen…"

I don't even allow her to finish her words before I almost snatch it out of her hand. Greedily, I open it up and turn the envelope upside down, allowing the contents to fall down on my desk.

Few pieces of papers tumble down and I stare at them. I am about to reach for a paper with the Swiss flag on it when something catches my eyes.

Hidden underneath the papers seems to be a picture. I can only see the up-turned corner of a pair of lips and I tug the picture free. And that is when I first lay eyes on Edward Cullen.

The photo looks old…must be at least six to seven years old. That and the boyish look on the subject's face tell me it must have been a high school yearbook photo. As I scan the photo before me, I realize that even in black and white, Edward Cullen looks to be quite a handsome man.

His hair looks like a mess as if he had just woken up from a very restless night of sleep, or he tried to uproot his hair by tugging on them. On any other guy, that would have looked clumsy and gawky, but on him, it looks rather endearing.

Although the black and white photo didn't capture his actual eye color, I feel like I can still detect the slight twinkle of intelligence in his eyes.

As the thought crosses my mind, I give myself an internal frown before going back to scanning the papers for information on Edward Cullen.

However, within a few minutes, I lose interest in the papers before me. All these papers say is that he used to work at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where he developed an encoding to communicate with species outside our Solar System.

My disappointment must have shown on my face because Alice says a little sadly, "I'm sorry, Bell. But this is all I could find on him. I know it's nothing new…"

I hold up a hand and stop her. "No, Al, thanks for trying. Besides, you found out a few information I couldn't find before…like where he worked and what was he working on before leaving the job. I'm sure this will help in some way."

She smiles and opens her mouth to say something but at that moment, Yorkie decides to show us his ugly mug. "Yo, Swan! Mr. Newton's asking for you."

I nod at him and then after arranging the papers neatly back inside the envelope, I stand up to face Uncle Mike.

_I am pretty sure he's gonna have a lot of questions for me._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

After I finish presenting the draft of my report on the insufficient number of hospitals in Seattle, I stack my notes together, ready to leave so that I can drop the final report off by the end of this day before I can go hunting for Edward Cullen once again.

I am about to push back my chair when Uncle Mike calls my name, making me remain seated. "Bella, are you mad at me?" he asks after a beat.

A little part of me wants to play all ignorant about what he means, but that is not who I am. So instead, I shrug and respond, "Why will I be mad at you? You are the Chief Editor of our newspaper and it's your decision what news you want us to pursue."

My answer makes him frown and he says softly, "No, Bells, I am your uncle as well, maybe not by blood, but blood isn't always everything."

I cannot find it in my heart to snap at him when we says stuff like that or call me by the name only my dad used to. So I nod and mumble, "I know you care about me, Uncle Mike."

A smile comes up on his lips when he hears me call him Uncle Mike. He taps the top of his desk with a finger and asks, "So, how's the alien hunting going for you? Need any help?"

I don't get mad at him for using the words 'alien hunting' because I know that this is his way of accepting the fact that I will go after this assignment and he is actually offering to help me out.

Shaking my head, I spill the frustrations from the past few days and say, "I don't know how you can help me, Uncle Mike. The only person who can help me seems to have vanished into thin air."

He looks a little confused as he asks, "You mean Grissom? You are looking for Grissom, now, Bells?"

A startled laughter escapes my lips as I realize how he could have reached _that_ conclusion. I stifle my laughter and reply, "No, I'm looking for a scientist, uncle. But I have no clue as to where I can find him. All I know right now is his name and where he used to work. That's it."

He looks thoughtful and asks, "You aren't going to go hitting up the NASA scientists, asking if they called on any aliens?"

I shake my head at his line of thought and decide to tell him what little my old college professor shared with me about Edward Cullen. He listens intently and when I'm done, he asks slowly, "You really think that finding this guy is a good idea?"

I arch an eyebrow at him and ask back, "Do you not want me to find the truth about this thing?"

I wait for him to nod, and when he does, I continue, "Well, if Dr. Cullen is the one who can help me find the truth, then why wouldn't I want to find him?"

He taps his desktop a few times before replying to me. "The guy fought with his colleagues, Bells. From that, he sounds like a crazy scientist."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Maybe his colleague was an asshole. Who cares if he's crazy or not? As long as he can help me, I am gonna keep searching for him. Besides, the way Crowley and Yorkie piss me off most days, you're lucky I haven't punch one of them yet."

With that, I stand up, not letting him say anything else. As I close the door behind me, I think I hear him say _'That's my girl'_ and I feel a wide grin stretching on my face.

_As long as Uncle Mike was behind me, those two fucktards couldn't do shit to me._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

After my talk with Uncle Mike, my mind seems to open up and inspiration strikes. I realize that I haven't tried the easiest way of searching for the man yet—the internet. No, I am not talking about googling him; because, hell yeah, I have done that already. What I mean is trying to locate him by finding his internet account.

According to Professor Banner, Dr. Cullen was registered as a local resident when he joined UDub. So that means he has family near Seattle.

I quickly contact the ISPs around Seattle and get about seventeen hits on the name Edward. From that list I systematically sort through the internet users in the Seattle area by the name of Edward.

By the end of the day, I am pretty sure I have managed to find the correct Edward Cullen.

I don't even look at the time before heading out. I just put a sticky note on Alice's desk saying that I might have a lead on Dr. Elusive Cullen and take off on my Harley.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

When I stop my bike in front of the house that's supposed to be inhabited by Dr. Cullen, it's almost night.

As I walk down the narrow driveway, I take a quick look around the property and I feel like what little I have guessed of Cullen's personality, his house fits quite nicely into it.

The whole property is filled with various forms of plant-life. Long, untrimmed grass lines the sides of the driveway which leads to a pretty small house at the end. The unkempt appearance of the place fits with the 'Crazy Scientist Theory' Uncle Mike came up with.

I ignore the unwelcoming and lonely environment around me and walk ahead to knock on the door.

After about three minutes of knocking, I start to feel like the guy isn't at home. Just as I begin to turn to leave, a small sound comes from the opposite end of the door and then the door opens.

With just a single glance, I recognize Edward Cullen. He looks pretty much like the guy from the yearbook photo.

However, one difference I immediately notice is his eyes. If I had thought that his eyes twinkled in that black and white photo, they were nothing compared to the vibrant green of his eyes in real life. They bore into mine brown ones and for a moment, I forget what I have practiced to say to him.

_It's like I am captured within his eyes._

I am zapped back into the present as he suddenly raises his hand and runs it through his hair. I notice that his hair is an uncommon shade of auburn … more like bronze.

I finally remember my manners and stick my hand out. "Hi. You must be Dr. Edward Cullen?"

He looks at my hand for a moment before taking it in his much larger one. "Yeah, I am Edward, but I don't think I've seen you before …"

I hurriedly give his hand a firm shake and introduce myself. "Of course, you haven't. I'm Isabella Swan. I have been searching all over for you. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He blinks at my speed-talking and then steps aside, holding the door slightly ajar for me. "Please, come in."

I offer him a smile and step over the threshold and then, I stop in my tracks.

The room I find myself standing in looks like nothing I have ever seen before. There are papers, clothes, food, gadgets, and what seems like at least a hundred books cluttering every surface imaginable.

I try to find some place to put down my bag but what seems like a couch—laden with stuff that looks like parts of the computer sitting on top of the coffee table before it—is the only seat I can find in the entire room.

Edward seems to catch my startled expression because he quickly shoves some circuit boards and such off the black leather couch and points to the place. "Please, take a seat."

The space he cleared off seems just enough for one person to sit. So I cast him a questioning glance and ask, "What about you?"

A light blush seems to cover his cheeks as he coughs self-consciously. "I … uhh …" he stammers. "I usually don't have people over."

I cannot stop myself from rolling my eyes and smile at him. "Clearly."

If it is possible, his blush becomes more prominent and he tries to smile. "I'll … I'll just grab a chair from inside." He is out of the room as soon as the words are out his mouth.

_He's good-looking and shy. Cute guy,_ I think to myself as I take a seat on the couch.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I am about to sit on the couch when the computer sitting before me seems to come out of sleep-mode and the face of a blond, middle-aged man comes on it. The face reflects curiosity as its lips move and I can hear words coming out of the speakers. "Who are you?"

I stare at the monitor in disbelief. Since I don't know if I am expected to make conversation with an inanimate object, I don't respond. The laptop doesn't seem to appreciate my silence and I see the expression on the face change into one of impatience. "Are you mute? Or deaf? Didn't you hear what I asked you? Who the hell are you?"

My bewilderment doesn't even let me get mad at the rude piece of technology and I find myself answering to it. "I'm Isabella Swan. I …"

I don't get to finish my introduction as the face interrupts me. "Swan? What kind of a name is Swan? Do you think you have a very long neck?"

A startled laughter escapes me as it keeps interrogating me. "Nope," I reply, shaking my head. "I have a pretty normal neck, I think."

The face shows annoyance as it snaps at me. "You think? What kind of an answer is that? Why are you not sure about yourself?"

I am wondering will Dr. Cullen feel offended if I tell his computer to _fuck off_ when the owner of the rude computer himself walks in, carrying a folding chair over his shoulder.

He smiles as he sees me standing before the thing and asks, "You got caught by Carlisle, huh?"

I scrunch up my eyebrows.

_He named his laptop Carlisle?_

Before I can stop myself, I repeat the name in a questioning tone. "Carlisle?"

"Why? Don't you think Carlisle can be someone's name? Or are you envious of my name?" _Carlisle_ pipes up.

Dr. Cullen sets the chair down and walks up to stand beside me. He gives Carlisle a stern look and says, "All right, it's enough, Carl." Then he turns to face me and says, "Carlisle is a communication software. Just to pass time, you know?"

_So, Carlisle is a software, not the whole fucking thing. Good to know!_

The slight blush comes back on his face. And I am about to respond to him when Carlisle decides that he is offended by Dr. Cullen's off-hand way of introducing him. "You think communication software is insignificant?"

Dr. Cullen huffs and says, "I'll show you insignificant, you ass." Then before Carlisle can respond, he grabs a cord and yanks it out of the computer's socket.

Immediately, Carlisle's face vanishes from the screen.

I feel a little bad for Carlisle and can't help but say, "You could've let him stay. Poor guy!"

A lopsided smile comes on to his face as Dr. Cullen asks me. "Poor guy? You do realize that if he stayed, we won't get a chance to talk, don't you?"

I look back at the now dark monitor and ask, "Where did you find this software? I never heard of software that can carry on a conversation with a person before."

He shrugs. "Where will I find shit like this? I made it myself."

I remember who I am talking to and smile. "I'm sorry. He just made me forget that I was talking to an IT expert."

My accusatory glance at the now switched off computer doesn't make him smile like I hoped it would, rather he frowns at me. "Looks like you have done a bit of a research on me, Miss Swan."

I plaster my I'm-a-professional-and-not-ashamed-of-stalking-you smile on my face and reply, "Well, since I'm a reporter at The Seattle Times, researching is a pretty big part of my job."

He hesitates for a bit and asks, "You're a journalist? Can I ask what this is about?"

I realize that he might be closing off and I cannot afford that.

_I need to make him talk._

In my attempt to keep him talking, I pick the first topic that crosses my mind. "Sure, Dr. Cullen. But first, can I ask you a little bit about Carlisle?"

He looks a little curious and nods, motioning me to take a seat as he sits down on the chair.

Without procrastinating, I ask him, "Why did you name him Carlisle? You could've named him anything. So, why Carlisle?"

He chuckles. "You do realize that if I had named him anything from French Fries to Dirty Sock, you would have still asked me why I named him so, don't you?"

_Damn! The guy makes a good point_, I cuss his smart response in silence and then ask again, "So you mean to tell me that you just randomly picked a name for your software and it just turned out to be a random guy's name?"

That adorable light blush covers his cheekbones as he shakes his head slightly.

Then he looks at me and starts talking. "Carlisle is my dad. Well, he's my stepfather but he has been my best friend for a long time now. When I moved away from home, I kept missing him so much that when I wrote this program as a joke to him, I decided to call it Carlisle. It actually pisses him off when he talks to this Carlisle."

I cannot help but laugh at his story and say, "That's a sweet story. Did you use artificial intelligence to write this?"

My question makes his eyebrows shoot up and he holds his hands up. "I'm not a big A.I. programmer. I just wrote it as a joke, honestly."

I don't let go of my line of questioning and remark again, "But he talks so smartly. You must have written him to be that smart."

The lop-sided grin comes to his lips as he asks me, "You think he's smart?"

I feel baffled at his question and try to defend myself. "Well, yeah. Sure, he is a rude jerk. But you have to admit that he can be considered smarter than some of the witless wonders that roam this earth."

Dr. Cullen actually laughs at my observation and shakes his head again. "You didn't catch it, did you? Carlisle is one of the silliest programs in the history of programming."

I open my mouth, ready to go all defensive on my insight, but he holds up a hand to silence me. "Basically, he just processes what you say to him and turns it around into a question and asks it to you. He talks in questions based on your previous answer. That makes him _sound_ intelligent."

I sit there gaping like a fish out of water.

_How could I not have seen this when I was talking to him?_

Dr. Cullen gives me a sympathetic smile and says, "If it makes you feel better, he does have the ability to process any video feed he records on a small video camera and also has the ability of voice recognition and generation."

I nod and respond to him. "Right. Since you work on communication, I just assumed …"

"Uh, yeah, about that…" His words make me stop and his face turns serious as he asks, "Will you tell me why you have been researching about me?"

"Well, I have actually been trying to contact you for almost a week now," I confess.

He looks shocked that anyone would try to find him and says, "I really cannot think of anything that might lead a news reporter to me."

I take a deep breath and tell him the reason, hoping like hell that he wouldn't call me crazy after hearing me. "I need your help with something. You see, about two weeks ago, a mysterious light was seen in the suburbs of Seattle. The witnesses said that it came down from the sky in a straight line—like a meteor. But there were no reports of any explosions nearby to indicate a meteor crash."

A frown line appears on his forehead, but he remains silent, allowing me to get it all out now.

"The next morning a dead body was found close to the area where the light was seen. The body belongs to a criminal, Mad Jim. The autopsy showed that even though he seemed to die of strangulation, there were no fingerprints left behind by the murderer. Also, his boss, Laurent Grissom, who was last seen to be riding with Jim, seems to have vanished into thin air."

He looks deep in thought as he asks me, "When was this?"

"August 22nd, at 12.57 a.m."

He leans forwards to grab a piece of paper and a pen from the coffee table and asks again, "Do you know from which side of the sky the light was coming from?"

"The north-east side, it came down in a straight line," I reply and wait for him to say anything. But all he does is write down some stuff on the paper and then stare at the paper with a surprised look on his face.

For a moment, I hesitate before blurting out my theory. "I think an extraterrestrial creature may have come to earth."

He doesn't give me the look I have gotten so far … the one that says they think I have been smoking pot.

Instead, he thinks for a moment before slowly saying, "If your theory is correct, then there can be three possible outcomes. One, where the creatures are smarter than us and won't try to harm us. You know, like we treat insects?"

I nod.

"That's how they'll see us. Second is if they are dumber than us, that will make them leave with their tails tucked between their legs," he stops to take a breath.

I cannot help but ask, "What about the situation where they're just as smart as us?"

He runs his fingers through his hair and responds, "That will be a tricky situation…" His face clears as he continues. "In fact, if the third scenario is the truth, then I think some of my ex-coworkers and NASA will be all over this."

I am startled by this piece of information and ask in disbelief, "You really think scientists from CERN are gonna be coming to Seattle?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, I do. We had a project going on there, when I was working with CERN for locating sources of life outside our Milkyway. So, if this is what you suspect it is, the whole team on that project should be in Seattle right now."

I lean forward. "So, what are you going to do?"

The look on his face tells me that he has not expected me to ask this and he frowns. "What am I going to do? What do you mean, Miss Swan?"

I stop myself from rolling my eyes and say with a nearly-suppressed huff, "Well, if scientists from all around the world are coming here about it, what are _you_, Seattle's very own scientist, planning to do?"

His frown disappears and an amused smile starts to spread on his lips. "Absolutely nothing."

When I don't say anything and just stare at him, he tries to explain. "Look, I don't work with stuff like that anymore, ok? I do freelance web designing now."

My voice turns a bit accusatory as I ask him sharply, "So you're not even gonna try to figure it out?"

He gives me a sad smile. "I can't. For this, I would need a fully equipped lab to transmit to the space. I can't do that with my built-in TV antenna."

"Why not?" I ask incessantly.

His smile turns into one of amusement as he replies, "Because if only were the extraterrestrial creatures roaming in my backyard, then I could make contact with them."

I push a lock of hair away from my face and press on. "What if they really are in the city of Seattle? You should give it a try."

He doesn't say anything and shakes his head a 'no'.

I try the last bit of luck I might strike and ask him, "If I write a report on these extraterrestrial happenings, will you please agree to do an interview with me?"

He blinks a few times, as if he cannot believe that I would want to interview him. When he sees the serious look on my face, he says softly, "No, I'm sorry."

I don't have to ask him why not this time because he starts talking in a low voice. "All you have is a theory, Miss Swan and as much as I would like to help you out, I don't think I should. Saying things like this in public might make me a subject of social ridicule and I'm not bothered by it. But I don't want to put my parents through it."

I understand what he means. I have been in the spot of being a relative of a person the society mocked and I wouldn't wish it on my loathed enemy.

In a soft voice I say, "I understand, Dr. Cullen." I stand up and reach into my pocket to get one of my visiting cards.

Holding it out to him, I say, "Here's my card. If you change your mind about this, I'll only be a phone call away."

His hesitance at taking the card tells me that he is only doing this to be polite, but he takes it nonetheless. Holding it in his hand, he tries to smile at me. "Sure, if I change my mind, you'll be the first to know."

I don't like that his smile is not the lopsided one from before and grin as I say, "Tell Carlisle, I said goodbye."

This time he laughs and I cannot help but smile. I may not have gotten the news I wanted, but I enjoyed just talking to him. And I know that I will find the truth myself any way I can, I am the truth junkie after all.

What I don't expect is the call I get from Edward Cullen two days later in a situation very, _very_ different from the one I hoped for.

**A/N: Just to clear it all up, this is a fantasy story. So I am gonna take a lot of liberties with stuff. Be prepared for it, people. ;)**

**So, that was a pretty long chapter. Thoughts?**

**Share them with me and leave a review, please?**

**I want to let you guys know that I posted two new one-shots in my profile. One is the judge's vote winner and the best fairytale use story for The Twisted Fairytales Contest. It's my first non-twilight story called "A Beauty For A Beast." To all my Delena loving readers, I would love to hear what you think of it. So maybe you could give it a try?**

**The next one is a future-take of my previous one-shot, Change My Mind. This one is called "Phases of Change." I donated it to the Fandom Gives cause. If you want, give it a try.**

**On another news, my story, Over The Counter, has been nominated for The Top 10 Completed Fics of August 2014. Please go to this link and vote if Smirky and Bellarina made you smile. Remember you can vote once everyday. ;)**

** /2014/09/01/vote-for-your-top-ten-completed-fics-august-2014/**

**Finally, I just posted my 1****st**** flash fiction in the Twilight25 Challenge this year. The stories will all be flash fics and all separate from each other. It's titled "Flashes of Bronze" because my central character in every story is gonna be Edward. Give it a try?**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	4. Chapter-4: The Phone Call

**Disclaimer: Damn it! I still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-4: The Phone Call**

The days following my first visit to Dr. Edward Cullen go off in a rush. After logically thinking about what Cullen said, I realize that I can somewhat progress with my hypothesis if I can prove that scientists from CERN are actually in Seattle at the moment.

When I discuss my plan with Alice, she agrees to help me out, albeit reluctantly. But at this point, I'm ready to take any help I can get.

However, it seems that fate is determined to be a bitch to me and no matter how we approach the situation we fail to get answers on whether or not several foreign scientists are in Seattle.

The well-established hotels refuse to divulge the information about their '_could be_ guests' and the Swiss embassy suddenly seems uninterested in talking to anyone from the media.

I stow away my frustrations for now as I pour myself a cup of coffee and walk over to the 'inspection table'.

Uncle Mike believes that we need to keep a close eye on our rivals. So he makes it a point to get every other newspaper from the Seattle area to be delivered at the office every morning. Those newspapers are put on a special table dubbed as the _inspection table_ in our break room. During break time, we indulge in checking those out for a change.

Today, however, as soon as I see the front page of The Voice of Seattle, I almost spit out the coffee from my mouth.

On the front page of the newspaper, outlined with red is an article with the following headline:

**_"_****_Strange Ray of Light amidst the City of Seattle"_**

Underneath it, the article goes on to say how a ray of light was seen the previous night near the Pike Market District. There is also a mention of it coming down in a straight line from the sky. My breath catches as I try to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

Every damn thing about this occurrence is similar to the first one, except for a tiny detail—no dead bodies were left behind this time.

_What can this mean?_

I throw the coffee down my throat, not caring about the scalding heat as it goes down.

I quickly decide to go and meet Dr. Cullen once again today after office. Maybe he won't agree to help me out, but he at least understands where I'm coming from.

With my mind made up, I rush off to talk to Uncle Mike.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Thirty minutes later, I find myself scowling at the stupid-ass grin on Alice's face. "Will you please stop smiling? You're pissing me off," I grumble.

Her smile broadens. "Nope. I like this assignment."

My scowl deepens. "You would."

She bumps my shoulder with hers and says, "C'mon, B. The senator is pretty damn cute. You have to agree with me there."

_Edward Cullen is pretty damn cute_, I mentally snap at her, but decide to keep my thoughts silent for now.

Instead, I shake my head at my best friend. "You do realize that with researching on the deficiencies of our telecom sector and covering the senator's press conference, I won't get enough time to follow up on the new story, right?"

Her smile falls a little. "I thought you just wanted to go see the scientist guy tonight?"

I cannot help but roll my eyes at her. "Not to_night_, Al. I said this _evening_. But by the looks of it, we'll be done with our assignment sometime after 8. You cannot pay someone a social visit after 8 p.m.! I'll just have to go tomorrow."

She looks a bit put off as she asks me, "Can't you ask for someone to cover for you? What about Eric?"

I snort. "No, thanks. I'll shave off my head before asking that fucker to cover for me."

When she continues to remain silent, I tug at the small bangs hanging over her forehead. "Come on, Short Round. We better get going."

She smiles and says, "Fine. But I'm not riding behind you. I'm taking my Porsche. You drive too fast."

I just grin at her words, because driving my Harley slower will be an insult to it.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

The press conference turns out to be pretty good.

After entering the hall, I got worried whether or not I'll get a chance to ask my question with all these older and far more experienced journalists around me. But turns out, the senator really is a very nice man. He allowed me to ask all the questions I wanted and even posed for Alice when she asked him to with a polite smile.

After the conference when we're back at the office, I grab the camera from Alice to get the photos and almost force her out of office, knowing that I am going to have to work for quite some time to get the report typed out.

By the time I get out of Seattle Times' office, it is around 9 p.m. and I decide not to go to Dr. Cullen so late at night.

_I'll just have to go talk to him in the morning._

I am about to get on my bike when my cell phone suddenly starts ringing. I pull it out of my pocket, wondering if mom is getting worried about me.

When my gaze falls on the screen though, my eyebrows pull together. There is no number visible and the caller I.D. simply reads 'Private number.'

Frowning at the screen, I lean against the bike and slide my finger across the answer button.

"Isabella?" before I can even utter a word, a voice from the other end asks.

The voice sounds familiar, but I just cannot pin-point to it at the moment.

"Yeah …" I answer slowly. "Can I ask who this is?"

A short pause follows and then the voice asks again, "Do you remember Edward Cullen?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Can you come to his house right now?"

In the back of my mind, a nagging thought occurs to me that there was something different about the caller, but I push it aside. I quickly agree, disregarding the time. "I'm on my way."

The call gets disconnected, and I mount my Harley to go and see Dr. Cullen.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Even before I reach the main gate at Dr. Cullen's place, I realize that something is very wrong with the picture.

For a man who confessed to be a social recluse, the turn off for Dr. Cullen's house seems to be crowded by three jeeps with a few more cars littering the driveway.

In the dark, I try to peek inside the jeeps. Though I cannot see clearly, I realize that the men sitting inside are wearing some kind of uniform. I slowly drive toward the main gate where two men stand, guarding the entryway with rifles hanging from their shoulders.

I pretend not to see them and start to enter when one of the men walks up to me with a frown on his face. "What do you think you're doing?" he asks in a rough tone.

I take off my helmet and see his eyes go a slightly wide before narrowing to two slits.

Holding the helmet under my arm, I gesture toward the driveway. "Can you move aside? I need to go inside," I say in a casual manner.

His eyes narrow a bit more as he crosses his arms across his chest. "You can't go in."

I give him a shocked look and ask, "Says who?"

"It's an order from my commander," he responds gruffly.

I shrug. "You commander's orders are for you to follow, not me."

My reply makes his face go all red as he takes a step forward and says in a rude voice, "Listen, lady, I'm not standing here to fuck with you. I'm ordering you to leave this place … right fucking now."

Before I can respond to him with some few choice words of my own, I hear him mutter in a low voice, "Fucking nosey bitch."

Suddenly my vision turns red. "All right then," I say quietly before putting on my helmet.

He gives me a haughty look as he starts to walk back to his post at the main gate. I tighten my thighs around the bike, kick on the clutch and then squeeze the accelerator tightly.

The bike starts with a roar, and I don't even spare anyone a glance as I drive it right to the gate. The guards jump aside from my way at the last moment and the speed manages to unhinge the closed gate.

I don't stop till I am right in front of Dr. Cullen's door and then I turn off the bike before going to knock on the door.

As I raise my hand to knock, the door opens and a uniformed man looks at me with a confused expression.

_Hmm … maybe the gate made a louder sound than I expected._

I almost push the man aside and step inside Dr. Cullen's house, and then I stop dead at my tracks.

Dr. Cullen is sitting in the lone couch with his head in between his hands while at least ten men stand scattered around the room. From the looks of them, they're either cops or foreigners.

Suddenly Cullen's words from two days ago come to me.

_If the third scenario is the truth, then I think some of my ex-coworkers and NASA will be all over this._

I stifle a gasp as I realize that maybe, just maybe, I am about to find the truth.

A dark-skinned, cruel-faced man, with a nasty mark right under his left eye glowers at me.

It suddenly seems that my identity could get me thrown out. So I decide to improvise.

"Baby, I'm so sorry I had to knock down the gate, but a brainless dim-wit was stopping me from coming in," I say with a bright smile and walk up to a very confused-looking Edward Cullen.

His eyes show panic as he stammers, "I—I don't … I don't understand what's happening …"

To shut him up so that he doesn't ruin my act, I lean down and put my lips on his. I mean it to be a swift shut-the-fuck-up-now kiss, but it seems like so much more. For a second, he freezes and I realize that I'm probably freaking the man out.

As I'm about to pull away, his hands come to rest on my arms and suddenly he starts kissing me.

For a moment, I forget the mean-looking men around us with badass-like guns and the only thing I can think of is this slightly awkward, adorable man who is now kissing me like he is Prince Charming trying to awaken my inner Snow White with his kiss.

When I'm breathless, I pull away, and just like that our spell is broken as I feel the ten pairs of eyes staring at us. I feel my heart almost trying to beat its way out of my chest, but I need to keep a cool head. I throw an exaggerated wink at Dr. Cullen and say loudly, "We'll finish this later, baby."

His eyes turn so big that I have to suppress a snort.

_Poor guy must be pretty weirded out._

Before I can say anything, I hear a voice ask me sharply, "Who the hell are you? You should leave."

I turn to look at the questioner and roll my eyes. "If that didn't give you the hint yet, I'm Dr. Edward Cullen's girlfriend." A cough from behind me tells me that Dr. Cullen just about tried to swallow his tongue at my lies.

But I don't dare to say anything to him and decide to play with the intruders a little bit.

Grinning, I hold up my badge from my belt buckle. "But if you want to know who I really am, I must say that I'm Isabella Swan, staff reporter at The Seattle Times."

The guy opens his mouth, but I'm on a roll. I throw him a challenging look and motion toward Cullen. "As for leaving, I'm at my boyfriend's house. If he wants me to leave, then I will, but otherwise, I'm staying right here."

"He doesn't want you to leave," Dr. Cullen blurts out from behind. "I mean, I don't want you to leave."

"Then I won't leave," I tell him with a happy smile.

Suddenly, a guy from the side peeps, "I saw you on the TV a few hours ago. You were at the Senator's press conference."

I silently thank Uncle Mike for giving me that job and smile wider at the man standing before me. "See? The senator is pretty big fan of my work."

The dim-wit at the main gate finally comes to report my barging in. "Sir," he pants. "I tried to stop her, but this stupid woman …"

His words get cut off as the guy before me glares at him. "Shut the fuck up, you incompetent asshole. Get out before I shoot your ass."

By the time dim-wit exits, I have pulled out Alice's camera from my rucksack. I hold it up and ask sweetly, "Can I take a few photos of you guys?"

Immediately, dim-wit's boss tries to grab the camera. "NO! Don't you dare take any photos!"

I get a curious look on my face and say, "It looks like this might be something that my boss will like to make a cover story out of."

Knowing that I won't get the truth out of them, I ask the room at large, "Can I know who you are?"

The stuck-up dude before me looks at me like he wishes he could throttle me and says mulishly, "You don't need to know who the fuck we are. Just know that we're here on an important investigation."

I think for a second before turning around to face Dr. Cullen. "Do they have any court orders?"

The look on his face tells me he had not thought about that before. He runs his fingers through his hair, messing it up even more and replies, "If they have, they haven't shown me anything."

I give him an incredulous look. "You mean you don't even know who these people are?"

He shrugs. "I saw the uniforms and figured that they are the Police or the Army."

"And the suits? I'm pretty sure they're not all Americans, let alone be a uniform," I challenge him.

He scowls at the dark-skinned man. "Those are not the cops. That jerk there is an ex-colleague of mine, Jacob Black."

Black, who has been staring at me since the moment I walked in, finally moves his eyes to look at Dr. Cullen, after hearing his name.

I figure that this guy must be someone big. So straightening my shoulders, I start to walk toward him. "Excuse me, Mr. Black? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

My innocent question is answered by several glares from the uniforms. Stuck-up dude blocks my way and says in a steely voice, "Look, Miss Swan, this is the last time I'm asking you to leave. If you don't listen to me, the consequences will not be in your favor, that I can guarantee you."

I stand there, toe-to-toe with the guy and give him a stink-eye before another brilliant idea comes to my mind.

I quickly pull out my phone and pretend to dial. Immediately the stuck-up dude asks sternly, "Who are you calling?" But I brush him off.

I wait for a few moments and then start talking. "Hello? Tyler? Is the final pasting done for tomorrow's newspaper?"

Faking to listen for a second, I say, "Great. Put it on hold for me. I have big news. Yeah, massive, actually. It'll make our cover story for tomorrow. I'll contact you with the details in a few, okay? And please inform Mr. Newton about it, all right? I'm sure he'll love to have this one."

I pretend to listen for a beat again and then laugh lightly. "Hey, I'm gonna be okay. I won't get into troubles this time, I promise. But just in case, maybe you should call up your contact at the Department of Foreign Affairs? Just to give a heads up, you know? Thanks, Tyler."

After that, I pretend to hang up and offer the wide-eyed spectators a big grin. "I sincerely hope what you're doing here is within the legal boundaries. Otherwise, you may have just handed me over the biggest story of my life."

All the men in the room stare at me for some time before suddenly starting to shuffle toward the door. Stuck-up dude pushes me away and goes to stand before Dr. Cullen. "Dr. Cullen, I'm sure you understand that our operation on an international scale? This can be a very big opportunity for you."

Cullen doesn't say a word. Instead, he returns the man's stare with equal aloofness.

Stuck-up dude doesn't say anything else as he joins his people to get out of the house.

The Black guy, however, seems to find his tongue as he takes his lap-dog's place before Cullen. "Edward, I think I need to tell you that we have a man in our team, named Sam Uley. He is richer than you can possibly fathom."

Dr. Cullen gives his ex-coworker a stony stare as he says, "I don't see how that can be any of my business, Jake."

_Jake_ smiles, showing us his yellowish teeth. "Mr. Uley is capable of buying anything and any_one_. You just have to name the price."

Dr. Cullen's face hardens as he stands up, towering over Jacob Black. "Fuck you, Jacob. I'm not for sale. You should know that by now."

Jacob grins in a shameless manner. "And you should know what happens to those who oppose me, Edward."

He turns to look at me before facing Dr. Cullen again. "Better watch your back, Eddie-boy. Who knows when that little girlfriend of yours will turn up dead?"

Dr. Cullen takes a threatening step toward Black, and Black winks at me before walking out of the door. And in that moment, I realize just how much mental strength Dr. Cullen possesses.

We stand in silence for a bit and then he tries to give me a grateful smile. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, I'm not sure I'll be standing in here. Thanks, Isabella."

I smile back. "You're welcome. But can you please tell me what just happened? I'm still a little confused."

He frowns and says, "I'm confused myself, but one thing has become clear from this."

"What?"

"Your suspicion is correct. Something extraterrestrial must have contacted Earth."

His words make me gasp. "How do you know that?"

He closes the door and then turns to face me once again. "Did you see the guy named Jacob Black?"

I nod. "The one who sort of threatened me, I think."

His face hardens. "He's an asshole, but I don't think he has the guts to do anything."

"Then what's the big deal?" I ask, not understanding why he is getting so worked up.

He sighs and motions for me to sit on the couch. Once I'm seated, he sits down beside me and rests his head in between in his hands.

"Jacob was the second-in-charge of the project I was working on at CERN. After my leaving, he became the team leader. While I was there, I saw that he was not following the protocols for transmitting to space. I confronted him about it and we got into an argument," he stops talking and then shrugs. "Anyway, that's old news now."

I look at him closely and ask, "Then what's the latest news?"

He looks exhausted as he replies, "I wrote an algorithm to make contact with alien species and the fucker wants it."

I quickly try to recall everything I had read about Dr. Cullen's work in Alice's notes and say in confusion, "But your algorithm is available in the public domain. I saw it while I was searching for you."

That lopsided smile crosses his face. "That's the prototype. I finished it after leaving CERN. The finished product has not been published anywhere yet."

I push aside the few strands of hair that have come loose from my ponytail and go back to my questioning. "What type of work is it? What does it do?"

He furrows his eyebrows and seems to think for a minute before speaking. "Think of it in this way. When you talk to someone with lower understanding capability than yours, you speak in a way. Again, when you speak to someone smarter than you, you tend to articulate your words in a different manner, hoping that they'll think you're smart as well."

I arch an eyebrow at him. "Did you just call me dim-witted?"

His cheeks brighten and he opens his mouth, probably to apologize, but I stop him. "Relax. I know I'm a smart cookie. I'm just pulling your leg."

He chuckles and shakes his head at me. "So, Black wants this algorithm?" I ask, bringing us back to our conversation.

"Yeah. But I know him and that's the reason I denied him."

"So …" I start, feeling hopeful. "Does this mean that I've been right all along? There really is some type of alien species in Seattle right now?"

"I think so."

I let the feeling of victory wash over me. Finally, I can go to office and tell all those non-believer jerks that I was right.

_Suck on that lemon, ass-hats!_

I am about to ask him whether he'll help me now or not when Dr. Cullen starts talking. "Do you know what's the most astounding thing is, Isabella? You …"

Suddenly he stops and looks embarrassed as hell. "Shit! I'm so sorry. I've been calling your by your first name without your permission. Sorry, Miss Swan."

Laughter bubbles out of me. "It's not the 1918, Dr. Cullen. You can call me by my first name. In fact, you can call me Bella—that's what my friends call me. And after the kiss we shared earlier, I think you can do so as well," I say with a wink.

The tips of his ears turn red as he coughs and then looks up to meet my eyes. "All right, Bella. In that case, I hope you'll start calling me Edward from now."

"From now on?" I ask playfully.

He smiles at me. "Well, if my jerk ex-coworker is here, then it is my duty to help you out, don't you think?"

"Thank you," I say as I extend my hand toward him.

Once he lets go of my hand, I remember that he was going to ask me something. So I ask, "What were you saying before?"

The smile falls from his face as he looks at me with a puzzled expression. "How did you know I needed help? You arrived right on time."

Now it's my turn to be bewildered. "Because you called me."

"I never called you, Bella. What are you talking about?"

"I'm telling the truth! You didn't get someone to call me for help?"

He shakes his head vigorously. "No, I didn't. Did you recognize the voice of the caller?"

"I did …" I stop, suddenly realizing who the mystery caller is. "Carlisle! He's the one who called me."

"Don't be ridiculous, Bella," Edward huffs. "Unless you're talking about my dad—who doesn't have your number, by the way—the Carlisle you're talking about is a lame computer program."

I narrow my eyes at him, cute or not, I'm getting pissed at the guy. "You don't believe me, do you? I clearly recognize the voice now. It was Carlisle. He even talked by asking me questions. If you don't believe me, then let's go and ask him about it."

He chuckles. "Bella, trust me. I wrote the whole software. I know every nook and cranny of the program. He is not capable of calling anyone."

Perching a hand on my hip, I ask him, "Does he have my number?"

That stupid smile stays firmly on his face as he rolls his eyes at me. "I'll admit that I have saved your contact information on his database, but that's something I do on a regular basis. I save important information on his database. That doesn't mean that Carlisle calls every one of my acquaintances, now, does it?"

On a hunch, I shoot back, "Is he attached to any hardware that allows him to place a call?"

Edward's smile freezes and his eyes widen. "Well?" I prompt.

He clears his throat and says, "Now that you mention it, I kind of did something stupid. After you left that night, I got my old antenna and attached it to a transmitter. It was designed to send my algorithm around the city, just to see whether your theory was right or not. But that can be easily used to place a call to your phone as well."

"I knew it!" I exclaim, hitting the palm of one hand with the back of the other one.

He holds out his hands. "Wait, wait. Don't get too worked up yet. Carlisle, or any other computer I own, do not possess the intelligence required to call your phone. It's just … absurd."

"But you can see that it has happened," I counter him.

"No, it hasn't," he shoots back. "What you're saying sounds similar to the fantasy I had as a kid to build a paper plane and it will transport me safely to Chicago. That is not what happened. I'm sure of it."

My stubborn-bitch-self comes out to play and I snark at him. "If you don't believe me, then why not ask Carlisle? Let's go and ask him."

He waves a hand toward the door to the next room. "He's on the dining table. Knock yourself out."

Just as I am about to walk out of the door, Edward grabs hold of my arm. "Before you indulge in this madness, I think you should call the newspaper office. They must still be waiting for your cover story."

My anger at the man standing in front of me lessens as I look at the innocent belief in his eyes.

I giggle and reply, "I can't; one, because I never called the paper to begin with, and two, because Crowley is a jerk who would never listen to my request."

"But I saw you call your colleague …"

"I faked it," I say with a shrug. "When you're hunting down the truth, you tend to learn how to be a good liar."

He looks shocked at my con and after a while starts laughing loudly, making me laugh right along with him.

As we stand at the doorway, laughing, we see the monitor light up on the dining table, and then an irritated faced Carlisle appears on it. "Who's that? Who's laughing?"

I smile at the stupid computer and ask back, "You don't know who is laughing?"

Carlisle stares at me for a long minute and then says in a clear voice. "I do."

Immediately, Edward's laughter cuts off and he almost runs toward the machine. Placing his hands on either sides of the monitor, he looks at the face on it and demands, "What did you just say, Carl? Say it again."

Carlisle remains silent and I walk up to Edward. "Edward, what is it?" I ask, taken aback by his sudden mood change.

He looks at the monitor again and then stands up straight to face me. "This is not Carlisle."

"What?" I don't realize where he is coming from.

He motions toward the computer with his hand. "He just answered me, Bella … without asking a question back. That is something Carlisle will never do. Whoever this is, it's not the software I wrote."

I scrunch up my eyebrows and ask, "Then who is this?"

"I don't know," Edward replies quietly.

_What is happening?_

**A/N: So … who might be the mystery caller? Any ideas? ;)**

**Share your thoughts with me and leave a review. Please? :D**

**The song rec for this chapter is Dark Horse by Katy Perry.**

**The next chapter of my Twilight25 challenge is up in Flashes of Bronze. Go and check it out!**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Until next time.**

**Ann**


	5. Chapter-5: Teacher's Pet

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**I have a few surprise POVs for you this chapter. So … let's get this show on the road, shall we? :D**

**Chapter-5: Teacher's Pet**

**Surprise POV**

I think of the poor kid I had to get suspended today at school as I turn up to the street leading to my home. I don't fancy punishing my students, but he was asking for it.

The kid has got nerve, I'll give him that. I mean, when I was in high school, I wouldn't have dared to smoke in school campus, let alone sell weed to my fellow classmates.

_Where is our new generation going?_ I think to myself as I walk up the front porch.

I'm fiddling with my keys when I hear a throat clear behind me.

Wondering who could visit at this hour, I turn around and feel my heart stop at the sight.

There, standing before me, pointing a gun straight at my heart is the student I was just thinking about—Paul Becker.

"Becker? What are you …" I start, but voice drowns out mine.

"Shut up, you ass-wipe. You think you're some big shit just because you have a degree that forces us to address you as Mr. McCarty? Well, think again," he says, brandishing the gun.

I try to keep my calm, knowing that any sudden action on my part might make him squeeze the trigger. "Becker, listen to me. I did what I had to do as your teacher. I have nothing against you."

"Go spew that shit to my dad, you asshole. He kicked me out of the house after I told him about it. Where the fuck do I go now, huh?" he screams in my face.

I hold my hands up in an attempt to calm him down. "Look, kid, how about I go and talk to your old man? Will that help? I can make him understand. And you're welcome to stay at my place for the night …"

I'm trying to think up any way to stall at this point.

"So, you can go and call the police? I don't think so, McCarty. Do you think the Volturis will let me live if they find out that I lost the bags they gave me? They'll kill me."

In that moment, I see the insecure teenage boy hiding behind his tough guy demeanors. In a soft voice, I ask, "Who are the Volturis, Paul?"

"They are a drug cartel based in Seattle," he mumbles.

"How on earth did you come in contact with people like them?" I ask.

His eyes flash with anger as soon as the words are out of my mouth. "People like _them_ help kids like us earn a bit of money to support themselves, while people like _you_ get us suspended and thrown out of our houses."

I realize that for whatever reason, he thinks of me as guilty and if the anger I can sense from him is any indication, he is not ready to listen to reason.

I open my mouth to give it one last try when a movement behind Paul catches my eyes.

Ignoring the gun-slinging teenager in front of me, I strain my eyes to see in the darkness.

The first thing to reach me is the sound … the sound of a pair of feet being dragged as someone walked. For some reason, the sound makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

_Did Paul bring someone to help him finish the job?_ I wonder, but my wonderment quickly morphs into sheer terror as the shuffling feet come into my line of vision.

There, standing not even five whole feet behind Paul is a figure—simply standing there with its head bowed.

Paul must see the frown on my face as I stare at the figure and turns around to see what I am looking at. "Who the fuck are you?" he calls out.

At the sound of his voice, the figure raises its head and looks directly at us.

The moment my eyes fall on its face, I'm no longer sure I am facing a human at all.

It has hands and legs—just like any regular human, but its head looks like there is some sort of inflammatory reaction going on, making it look swelled.

What scares me the most are its eyes, though. They seem to glow bright red in the darkness. The figure walks in a drunken manner as it starts to move toward us.

"Hey, why don't you answer me, huh? Who the fuck are you?" Paul asks again as he points the gun to the approaching figure.

"Paul …" I start, but before I can ask him to stand back, Paul takes a few steps toward the figure.

It stops and looks at Paul for a beat.

Then, before I can blink my eyes, something … something animalistic crawls out of the metallic part of its head and jumps at Paul.

"Oh shit! Get it off me!" Paul's sudden cry is followed by a piercing scream, and in horror, I watch the thing cut up a spot in my student's throat and crawl inside his body.

Another scream comes to my ears, and suddenly I realize, I am the one making those noises … I am the one screaming bloody murder.

Something inside me snaps me out of the daze of shock I am in—maybe basic instinct. And without glancing back at the now dead body of my student, I step to the side of my home and then, I run.

I run until my body screams in protest, but I don't have the guts to stop. The fear of sharing Becker's fate keeps me moving.

When I reach the town marker, I see a few headlights in what looks like a camp. The sound of peoples' voices seems like music to my ears and I push myself to reach the spot.

As I jog into the campsite, I see people wearing U.S. Marine uniforms and the vehicles seem like military jeep as well.

Relief washes through me and I almost collapse, but two arms catch me before I can hit the ground.

"Hey, can you hear me? Sir? I need you to tell me your name, please," a voice says.

"E … Em … Emmett McCarty," I respond with the last bit of my strength before giving into the exhaustion and letting the darkness take me over.

**Surprise POV-2**

"Fucking asshole!" I cuss my reporting commander as I stow my phone back inside my pocket.

After spending the last year in the peace mission, I thought that I'll be able to spend some quality time with my only sister and her baby boy. But it looks like I am not going to be home that much anyway.

Exactly two hours after coming to my sister's place in Port Angeles I got a call from General Peter Cahill. Apparently, there is something going on at the town border between Seattle and Port Angeles and they need me and my unit to tackle the situation.

"You have to go?" The sound of my sister's voice makes me turn around and give her an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Rose. Duty calls," I respond, holding up my phone.

She nods and shifts the sleeping baby in her arms, then she walks up to me. "You will be back home though, right?"

I hate the doubt in her voice and what I hate even more is that I put it there. After her husband's death on the job a few months back, she has gotten overly protective of me.

I wrap my arms around both my sister and nephew and then place a kiss on her cheek. "Rose, you're my only family. Where else am I gonna go?"

Holding the baby carefully in her arms, she envelops me in a motherly hug like always and whispers, "I just don't want anything to happen to you, little brother."

For once, I don't try to remind her that I am younger than her by merely three minutes, and instead, I whisper back, "Then I'll be fine, Rosie."

After kissing my nephew's forehead, I grab my still packed backpack and start toward the door—ready to start my next mission.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

The moment I get out of my car, three of my soldiers rush up to greet me. "Sir, we just got called in for something …" one starts.

Another elbows him to keep quiet and adds, "All of our unit got the call, Sir."

Finally, Seth, the youngest one in my team, asks the most important question, "What is happening, Captain?"

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering them. "Look, fellas, all I have been informed about is that the people in the Port Angeles-Seattle town border area are in danger and we have been called in to prevent it. Stay in alert, all right? I'll brief you all when I know more."

They all nod and shuffle away.

As I look around me, I see that my entire unit has, indeed, been called in.

_These people were here to spend some time with their families—just like myself_, I sigh internally.

I look at the small campfires they have started and gathered around in groups of fours or fives as I move to the main post, where the mission file should be kept for me.

The Sergeant at the post greets me with a tired smile and a salute as he hands me the file.

Offering him a smile of my own, I open the file and start skimming through it.

As I read on, I feel my eyebrows pull together in a frown. My mind is clouded with confusion at what I read.

_How can this be? I haven't …_

My thoughts get cut off as I hear my men cry out something in loud voices.

Throwing the file down on the desk, I march out of the post and head toward where my soldiers stand in a semicircle.

I strain my neck to see what they're looking at and see a big, burly man in their midst.

He looks like he's about to faint. I quickly rush in and move through the surrounding soldiers to get to the man in time.

I manage to catch him just before his knees buckle.

Trying to get a good look at his face in the darkness of the night, I ask, "Hey, can you hear me? Sir? I need you to tell me your name, please."

"E … Em … Emmett McCarty," he mumbles, and then he faints.

I take in the pale face, the expression of terror on his face and the fatigue that has made him faint, and the confusion from the mission file clears up in my head.

_It's true._

Turning my head to the side, I find a worried-faced Seth Clearwater standing beside me. I carefully lay the unconscious man down on the grass and then look at Seth.

"Officer Clearwater, can you please get General Peter Cahill on the phone for me?" I ask, keeping my voice level so that no one can sense my panic.

"The General?" Clearwater repeats, as if afraid to even speak the man's name out loud.

"Yes," I respond with a definitive nod. "Tell him that the mission is on the motion. We have the first one in our camp."

"What does that mean?" he blurts out.

"That's for him to know, Clearwater," I say, suddenly feeling tired of this conversation.

He looks ashamed for questioning my command and murmurs, "Yes, sir, Captain Whitlock."

Then he rushes off to the post.

A sigh leaves me as I stand there, looking down at the man lying before me.

A storm's coming … I can feel it in my bones.

**A/N: I know it's way too short for my style. But I had to stop here.**

**I promise the next chapter will be way longer and have our Crazyward and Junkie-ella back. :)**

**Share your thoughts with me and leave a review, please?**

**If you haven't already, go and check out my version of Wonkyward in my new one-shot ****_The Wonky Boy With A Crooked Smile_****.**

**Song recs? Ahem … I actually had the X-Files theme playing on repeat as I wrote this one. *winks to Dee***

**Oh and check out the new flash in my Twilight25 entry, Flashes of Bronze. ;)**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	6. Chapter-6: A Tangled Mess Of Truth And L

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL. So, the questions you've been thinking asking all this time? They might be answered here … sorta! ;)**

**Chapter-6: A Tangled Mess Of Truth And Lies**

**BPOV**

The morning after the crazy night at Edward's, I almost sleepwalk to the coffee maker. From the other room I hear the sound of my mom watching the ridiculous exercise videos as she grunts and stretches her ass off.

When the first whiff of freshly brewed coffee reaches me, I feel like a thirsty desert traveler suddenly finding an oasis.

Okay, maybe that is a tad dramatic, but when I've had only a few hours of sleep, my brain cannot function without my coffee fix.

However, I stop before I can take a sip of my coffee and burn my tongue as I hear the sounds of the morning news from the television.

Still holding my coffee mug like it is The Holy Grail, I run to the TV room and find my mom bending there with her ass sticking up in air.

"Sheesh, Mom! Good morning to you too," I say before plopping down on the couch.

My mom straightens and casts the TV an accusatory glance. "They put the exercise program on hold for the news."

I put my finger on my lips, indicating her that I want to listen to the news.

"That's all you ever care about, Bella—news … news … and more news. Do you ever wonder what your mother wants?"

The news presenter announces that they're taking a commercial break and on the coming up segments, I see the news that made me come and sit down here in the first place.

Taking a sip of my coffee, I turn to my mother and ask, "What do you want, mom?"

She sniffles and replies with a tad more theatrics than even I could have mustered, "What else can a mother want at my age? I want my daughter to find a nice, respectable man before she turns twenty-seven. I want to play with my grandchildren before I die. Is that too much to ask, Bella?"

I know I should probably try to calm her down or some shit, but before I can do that, the news returns and I find myself glued to the TV as soon as the words "Outbreak of Dangerous Viral Disease in the Seattle-Port Angeles Area" reach my ears.

With wide eyes, I see the news presenter blabbing about the suspected breakout of mutated form of Ebola virus in the area quite close to where Laurent Grissom had vanished from.

The news ends, and I'm on my feet, already planning out what I'm going to do about this.

"Bella? Where are you going?" mom asks.

I find my phone beside the coffee maker and respond, "I need to call Uncle Mike. He needs to hear what the lies they're spewing."

"Who are _they_?"

My fingers itch to dial my editor and I snap at her, "Mom, you won't understand it. Go and do your stretching stuff."

She looks hurt by my tone and sniffles before walking back to the TV room, leaving me feeling worse than dirty gym socks.

Cussing silently, I put the phone down and follow her to the room.

"Mom?" I call from behind.

The way her shoulders slouch reminds me just how lonely she usually is throughout the whole day. The only time she gets to spend with me is in the mornings and thanks to my cranky ass, I ruined that too.

I walk up to her and wrap my arms around her from behind, mumbling into her hair. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm just too pre-occupied with everything right now. Sorry I snapped at you."

The mother in her doesn't let her stay mad at me for long, and she pats my hand and turns to face me. "I worry about you, honey. You have the same spark your dad used to have when he used to go out for work everyday."

"I thought you loved the spark?" I ask softly.

She sighs. "Yes, but in the end, the spark is what took him from us. I don't want to be in the same position again, Bella."

Her whispered confession of fears makes my eyes sting slightly, but I push it away.

_I have to be strong for her._

"Mom, nothing's gonna happen to me. I'm always careful, besides you know Uncle Mike won't let me take on a project if it is too dangerous." She nods at my words.

Just to make her smile, I add with a wink, "Who knows? I might actually find a nice man in my line of work. Stranger things have happened and all that, you know?"

She cracks a smile and shakes her head at me. "I hope you do, babygirl."

_Well, I might have already met a crazy man in my line of work … with nice kissing skills_, I smirk inwardly.

As soon as the thoughts of Edward strike me, I remember that I was going to call Uncle Mike.

Smacking a kiss on my mom's cheek, I go back to hunt my phone down.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

"Hey, did you watch the morning news today?" I ask as soon as I hear the grumpy _hello_ from the other side.

"Hello to you too, Bells," Uncle Mike responds.

I make a slightly whiny sound and he laughs. "Yeah, yeah, kid. I watched all of it. What's up?"

"Did you see the news about the viral outbreak?"

"Yes …" I can hear the confusion in his voice.

Impatiently, I ask, "You haven't realized what that actually is, Uncle? I thought you were a smart guy."

"Hey, now, if you talk about my smartness, I'll take offense," he threatens me. "Fine. What's your theory, Bell?"

I take a bite of the apple mom pushes at me from other side of the dining table and respond, "I think the scientists from CERN are spreading this bullshit. They want to close off the area. Did you see that they have quarantined a bunch of people already?"

"Yes. The news said the virus can be transmitted through a number of ways. So …"

I cut him off. "No, that's not it. What they're doing is holding captive anyone who has seen the aliens. They are trying to conceal the truth."

He remains silent for a few heartbeats and then says in a placating tone, "Bella, you're one of my brightest reporters. If you keep talking about aliens and a possible invasion, where do you think your credibility will go?"

"But it's the truth. Why aren't you believing me?" I ask and may even stomp my foot a little bit.

"I cannot keep defending you from people like Yorkie and Crowley, kid. If you want to make them believe you, find some proof."

"What kind of proof?" I ask through gritted teeth.

Uncle Mike chuckles. "The best way will be to bring the aliens and maybe host a press conference in the Times' office."

Realizing that he is just pulling my leg, I keep quiet, letting the old timer have his laugh.

When I don't respond, he tries again, "What about just a picture then? After all, a picture says a thousand words. You can take Brandon with you."

My patience starts to wear thin, but I clamp my mouth shut, not wanting to hurt him with my words.

The continued silence finally makes him sober up. "All right, Bells. I'm not gonna make fun of you anymore. But if you believe there really is something fishy going on, you should find out the truth."

I decide to break my silence and agree. "Fine, Uncle Mike. I will hunt down the truth, no matter what."

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

The first bit of bad news of the day comes to me in form of a phone call—from Alice. After several wheezing coughs, she manages to tell me that she has the flu; so she won't be coming in today.

Wishing her a swift recovery and assuring her that I'll be fine on my own for a bit, I hang up. Now I'll have to use what little knowledge of photo editing I possess and make the desk report we have been working on look presentable.

_There goes my hope of leaving the office early and checking out the 'viral outbreak zone,' _I sigh inwardly before getting to work.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

By the time I manage to slip out of the office, it's half past two and I still haven't had my lunch.

_That's what happens when you sit on your lazy ass and wait for Alice to bring something up from the cafeteria downstairs for you like she does every day,_ I mentally chide myself.

Realizing that I am so hungry that I can easily devour a whole deer, I decide to head to a nearby deli before going to my destination.

However, the moment I set foot in the deli, I know it is a very bad idea. Because there is not a single unoccupied seat in there where I could sit down and enjoy my favorite Chicken Salad Sandwich.

I do see a few people standing around and eating, but doing that alone feels weird.

As my mind starts to wonder every possible person I can have lunch with, a crazy, green-eyed, messy-haired man comes into mind.

_Dr. Edward Cullen._

Last night, when we had realized something was wrong with Carlisle, Edward had then and there started to take the whole computer apart, desperate to figure out how that was being possible.

After waiting a few minutes, I had left him to do his work in peace.

_I should go and see if he has made any headway with the weird program that was his own creation_, I try to justify my wish for seeing him to myself.

But even then, a little part of me knows that I want to go there to check up on him … to make sure that he was all right. He's a lonely man. Who knows if he has taken his lunch or forgotten all about it in his excitement, you know?

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

For the second time in less than twenty four hours I stop outside the main gate leading to Edward's house and know that something is _very_ wrong.

The gate I had unhinged slightly last night now lies on the ground, bent in the middle—as if something heavy has driven over it.

_Something like those big jeeps from last night_, my subconscious whispers.

Carefully, I drive by the gate and go down the driveway.

As I turn off the engine of my Harley, my eyes sweep over the wide open doors leading to the house.

Approaching the house, I hesitate for a bit, unsure if I should knock or not. Finally, I decide to call out his name. "Dr. Cullen? Edward?"

When no response comes, I take a deep breath and step over the threshold.

On first sight, the house looks like someone had let wild boars loose on the place.

I move from room to room, checking for Edward and looking at all the stuff that has been thrown around.

After going through each and every room and figuring out that Edward is not home at the moment, I return to the living room.

As I stand there, contemplating on whether I should wait for him to get back home or call and ask Uncle Mike to send someone to help me out, I see it—the upside down monitor lying on the floor.

Walking down to the thing, I kneel beside it and gingerly straighten it up.

"Who? Who is this?" I gasp and almost drop the device from my hands as all of a sudden Carlisle's face appears on it.

Not trusting myself, I set the monitor down on the coffee table nearby and take a seat on the couch before it.

Carlisle's eyes widen a little in recognition and he asks eagerly, "Isabella Swan? That's you, am I correct?"

Feeling a little bit edgy, I ask him back, "You don't remember my face, Carlisle? I am Isabella."

"There is no harm in making sure it's you, is there?" he asks back.

Sighing, I decide to let the rude computer win this time and ask again, "Where's Edward?"

"Not here."

I feel my eyebrows pull upwards as I hear his response.

_He just answered me. Did Edward find out what's wrong with him?_ The thoughts quickly run through my head.

Pushing aside my uneasiness at Carlisle's new-found way of talking, I focus back on Edward. "Where did he go?"

"I haven't found out where exactly, but I know that he was taken," he replies in an emotionless voice.

"TAKEN?" I almost scream at him. "What do you mean by taken? Who took him?"

Even though a part of me suspected this the moment I saw the mangled main gate, I still cannot stop the gasp that leaves my lips at his reply. "The people from last night. They took Edward."

"But they left!"

He gives me a condescending look and says, "They just moved away from Edward's house. They waited a bit further back, waiting for you to leave."

"How do you know that?" I demand of him.

"I saw that."

"What do you mean you _saw_ that? You're just a computer program with a small video camera attached to you for fuck's sake! You cannot _see_ anything beyond the room you're in." I know that I'm sounding like a rude bitch myself, but I'm beyond caring about it.

Carlisle doesn't answer me and I snap at him once more. "What happened? Why aren't you answering me?"

"I'm thinking."

His response makes me let out an exasperated sigh. "What are you thinking, Carlisle?"

"I'm thinking if I should share the information with you. I already shared it with Edward," he stops for a moment before continuing. "Your honesty and desire to find Edward makes me think that I can trust you. So, can I share the information with you, Isabella?"

I clear my throat, wondering whether I should feel a little flattered at being deemed trustworthy by a computer program or not, and then reply, "If it's related to finding Edward, then I think you should tell me."

His tone gets softer as he says, "It's much bigger than just Edward, but yes, finding him is an essential part of it."

"Okay, tell me then."

"I am not the Carlisle you met on your first visit to Edward," he says calmly.

"What? What are you talking about? I agree that you've toned down the rudeness a bit, but you're still him …" I stop my rambling when I see him shake his head.

His next words make me gasp once again. "You are in danger, Isabella. Your whole world is in danger."

"How can you say that? You're just a …" I stop, feeling like I'm sounding like a broken radio by this point.

His response tells me that even he realizes that. "Listen to me, Isabella. I am not just a computer program. I am just using a computer program to communicate with you."

"Why?"

"How would you communicate with an ant, if you had to? You cannot make the ant as intelligent as yourself overnight. So all you can do is to use a medium that's understandable to the ant. Am I correct?"

Instead of answering him, I narrow my eyes. "Did you just compare me to an ant?"

"It was just a metaphor."

"Yeah? Well, I don't believe in metaphors. I only believe in what I see … what the truth is."

He gives me a long, silent look before starting to talk. "Then let me tell you the truth, Isabella. Your world is in danger. Jacob Black and his team have brought on a species with higher intellect than yours on Earth."

I feel my eyes widen at his implications. "You mean I was right about the aliens being here, don't you?"

He nods. "Yes. The species, or aliens as you prefer to call them, intend to leave some of their own on this land. Do you know what happens when two species of different levels of intellect inhabit the same place? When a powerful species comes to a place inhabited by a weaker one?"

Suddenly, my mind recalls a well-seen footage from the Discovery Channel: a lion sinking its teeth on the weaker deer.

In a whisper, I say, "The more powerful one tries to eliminate the weaker one."

"Exactly. Do you realize how this new species is going to affect yours now?"

Even though his question is rhetorical, I nod before asking the most important question. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I don't believe in war. I don't want you all to die just because of some power-hungry people."

_Simple, huh?_

"What should we do? How can we stop this?" I ask, suddenly feeling weak.

"I am sorry, Isabella, but I cannot help you there. This is something you need to figure out for yourselves. Our laws prohibit us from touching your civilization so I cannot do anything. However, I suggest you try to find Dr. Cullen. He may be the one to help you."

"Where do I find him?"

He looks sorry as he replies softly, "I don't know, yet. I'm sorry."

His words make me feel like I'm falling down a deep gaping hole with no way to pull myself up.

_What is going to happen now?_

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I don't know how long I just sit there, not knowing what to do. I'm snapped out of my morose mood by the sound of growls coming from my stomach and suddenly I feel ravenous.

I force all the worries out of my mind for a moment and almost devour my sandwich. As I cast my eyes around the dismal-looking room, I realize that after all of this, I'm still sitting here and eating my lunch … alone.

Finishing my sandwich, I brush off the crumbs from my jeans and stand up. Carlisle, or whoever the hell he was now, looks up at me and asks, "Are you leaving, Isabella?"

Sighing, I pull on my jacket and say, "Yeah, I need to go find Edward."

"How?"

Staring straight into his calm, serene face, I whisper, "I don't know yet. But I know that I have to find him."

One more glance at him, and I walk out of the house, already determined to do anything I can to save my planet. I don't care if these assholes were more intelligent than me, I just know that it's my planet and no jerkface is gonna start an invasion in here.

_If I'm going down, I'm gonna go down fighting._

**A/N: So … thoughts? I know the last part sounds a bit overdramatic, but I thought it gave our Bella a nice fiery attitude, don't you? ;)**

**Share your thoughts with me and leave a review, please?**

**For those of you who have read, reviewed and loved Over The Counter, I'm donating an outtake of OTC to Fandom4Christy. If you're interested in helping out one of our own fandom, go to this link to find the information about donating: **** (remove the spaces and replace the dot with a . :) )**

**On another news, if you haven't yet, go and vote for the TFLN Twi Contest. The voting closes tomorrow. So hurry! Here's the link:**

** u/5912044/TFLN-Twific-Contest# **

**Oh and if Smirky and his Bellarina made you smile in OTC, don't forget to go here and vote for Over The Counter. You can vote once daily till the 30****th****. ;)**

** /category/top-ten-fics/top-ten-completed-fics-aug-2014/**

**The song I listened to while writing this chapter is Tell Me A Lie by One Direction.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Until next week.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	7. Chapter-7: Black Hole

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-7: Black Hole**

Marching out of Edward's house, I lean against my bike and bring out my cell phone and then push speed dial number 2.

It takes two whole rings before answer comes from the other end. "Hello? Bell?"

If it was any other time, I'd have felt downright guilty for calling Alice when she sounded so groggy on the phone. But it is not any other time; it is a time when I need to talk to my best friend.

"How are you, Al?"

Something in my tone probably alerts her that something is wrong because when she responds, she sounds more awake than a few moments before. "Bella? What happened? Are you okay?"

I let out a slow breath and say, "Not really. You know the crazy scientist guy?"

"Yeah. Edward Cullen, right? What's up with him?" The slightly shaky quality of her voice tells me that even in her sick state she is walking, trying to tone down the worry.

"He … he's been kidnapped, Alice."

"WHAT?" she cries out. "B, go back and start at the beginning. What exactly happened to the guy? Why do you sound so worried?"

As I open my mouth to answer her, her words play in my mind to formulate a different meaning.

_Start at the beginning._

And then, I know where I need to go to find Edward.

Immediately, I'm itching to be on my way. There is still a good few hours of daylight left, and I think that I can utilize it for my search.

"Listen, Al," I say. "It's a long story, and I have to run now. Just know that Edward Cullen is an important man and a scientist from CERN, Jacob Black, might have gotten Edward kidnapped. I'm telling you this on an 'in case of emergency' basis. I'll let you know more soon, okay?"

Before hanging up I hear her yell from the opposite end, "Just promise me that you'll stay safe, B!"

Without giving an answer to her, I hang up because I know deep down that I cannot promise her this knowing where I am headed to.

Slipping the phone back in my pocket, I get on my bike and after a deep, cleansing breath, I drive away from the ransacked home to go and look for it's owner.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Nearing the so-called 'virus infected' area, I feel my eyes widen. A large area has been sealed off with wire fences about seven feet in height and the electric lines attached to them clearly mark that they have electricity running through them so that anyone trying to jump them will be electrocuted.

_So, these things actually do exist outside of action movies!_ I think dryly before approaching the guard post near me.

The uniformed guard sitting at the post moves his eyes from my bike to my face before letting them finally settle on the badge hanging from the belt buckle of my jeans.

As soon as he sees the Seattle Times Logo emblazoned on it, he puts on a one hundred percent fake smile on his face and greets me. "Hello, ma'am, how may I help you on this fine morning?"

The fake cheeriness in his voice makes me want to snap at him that it's afternoon and not morning at the time, but I calm myself down.

_This is a rescue mission, Bella. Getting hotheaded would not help Edward. Keep your cool, girl!_ I tell myself and offer him a saccharin sweet and equally fake smile.

"Hi! I'm a staff reporter with The Seattle Times. I'm here to cover the news about the viral outbreak in the area."

"Of course, ma'am. If you could drive about a mile south from here, you will find our official press box. We have hourly bulletin being given to the media representatives there along with a bit of light refreshment," he prattles on at a practiced voice.

_Do I look like I'm here for the free food?_ I want to ask him, but instead, I pull out Alice's precious camera from my backpack and give him another sweet smile.

"Do you mind watching my bike for a bit? I'll just dash inside and take a couple of pictures around here before heading to the press box."

My words make his back to stiffen and the smile to fall from his face. "No. Go to the press box," he says, pointing southward with his finger.

For a moment, I consider making a mad dash for the fence, but the formidable looking wires quickly put me off.

Nodding gloomily at the guard, I turn around and head to the way he pointed.

_I'm gonna see this shit to the end_, I silently promise myself.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I have to admit that the tent being used as the press box for the viral outbreak actually looks pretty cool.

There are a fair number of computers in the large room where the journalists are able to get printed copies of the hourly bulletins and various images of the signs and symptoms of the 'disease.'

There is an important-looking uniformed officer sitting at a long table at one end of the huge tent with two doctors and even a pharmacist with him.

The journalists are allowed to ask them any question they like and they seem to try their best to answer them.

What strikes me as odd, though, is the fact that more emphasis is being put into serving the 'refreshments' for the assembled journalists than presenting them with any actual information.

I grab a printed copy of the latest bulletin and see that it is something that one could easily write up using the top five hits from a search for 'Ebola' in Google. Believe me, I've Googled it the moment I had gotten to office this morning, so I know where all these information can be found.

Listening to the doctors and the pharmacist for a few minutes, I realize that even they are replying to each and every question from the bulletin. Any questions that cannot be answered from there, they skip with an insincere apology that the answer to that question is yet to be found.

_Lying assholes_, I seethe in my head as I fold up the stupid piece of paper and shove it inside my backpack.

When the puppets sitting at the table take a break, I approach the officer and hold out my hand, with my badge clearly on display.

"Hi, I am Isabella Swan, Staff Reporter with The Seattle Times," I introduce myself.

"Hello, Miss Swan, I'm Brody Simons. Have you been offered any refreshments yet?" he responds politely.

Smiling at him, I nod. "Yes, I have. I was actually hoping you could help me find someone."

He frowns a little. "If you are looking for a patient who has been quarantined, I don't know if I can help you, Miss."

"Oh no, don't worry, Officer. The man I'm looking for isn't a patient; in fact, I think he's here to help the patients."

He casts a glance at the three healthcare professionals at the table and starts, "You mean a doctor …?"

"No, no, not a doctor," I cut him off. "The man I'm looking for is one Jacob Black. He's a physicist."

Officer Simons looks confused. "Why would a physicist be here? I'm sorry, Miss Swan, but I don't think any physicist named Jacob Black is in here."

Before he can turn away from me, I quickly say, "Maybe he's not here at the moment, but I'm sure if you try a little bit, you'll find that Dr. Black is somewhere in the area."

He looks thoughtful for a moment and then says, "I guess I can ask the commanding office a few miles away from here about him."

Giving him a bright smile, I nod enthusiastically. "Thank you, Officer. If you do find him, will you please give him a message from me?"

"Sure thing. What is the message?"

I pretend to think for a bit, and then pulling out my notepad and pen ask, "Maybe I should write it down? It's a little peculiar to be easily remembered."

When he nods, I tear a page from my notepad and write out the cryptic message I need to draw the fucker out with:

_I know about the C-Algorithm. It'll be hard to stop the press conference about our guests without that Uley thing you mentioned last night. I'll be waiting._

Officer Simons reads it once and then grimaces. "You're right. I cannot make head or tail of this message. I'm not sure I would have been able to remember it by the time I located Jacob Black."

I give him an understanding smile and tell him that I'll sit out here while he tries to find Black.

My wait is not too long though. Less than ten minutes after he left, Simons walks back to me with a surprised look on his face.

Standing up from my seat, I give him a questioning look. "Any luck?"

"Looks like you are an important person, Miss Swan. I found a Dr. Jacob Black at the commanding office. He is a physicist from CERN. When he heard your name, he wasn't too interested in talking to you, but once I read out the message from you, it worked like magic."

I smile widely at him. "My words tend to have that effect on people. So did he say anything in reply?"

He shakes his head in disbelief and says, "No, he said he's coming down here to meet you personally. He'll be arriving shortly in his personal helicopter."

"Fantastic. Thank you for your help, Officer. I won't keep you from your job anymore. I'll just sit here and wait for Dr. Black to get here," I reply and motion for him to go join the table.

With a smile at me, he walks away, and I go and grab a cup of coffee from one of the many coffee machines sitting on the 'refreshment' part of the tent.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I am still sitting with that single cup of coffee clutched in my hands when a sudden buzzing noise comes to my ear. People start looking around for the source, and I realize that my gamble might just work because Jacob Black is here.

Most of the journalists gather at the entrance as the red helicopter lands on the empty field outside the press box. Slowly, I stand up and walk toward the entrance to join everyone.

The moment Black steps inside the tent, he starts to look around, most likely looking for me.

I plaster a big smile on my face and step up to him with an outstretched hand. "Dr. Black, it's nice to meet you again."

Then, the moment he touches my hand, I turn my head to look at the journalists around us and say excitedly, "You guys should be taking pictures! Dr. Black is a renowned scientist who is here to help us with this crisis."

Immediately we're blinded by camera flashes as everyone tries to take a picture of this fucktard.

Smiling at the cameras, I lean closer to Black and murmur, "I hope this doesn't make your Sam Uley mad, after all, you'll have to use his money to buy out all these photographs."

Black glares at me and hisses back, "What do you want, lady?"

I manage my facial expressions better than him and hide the anger coursing through me as I speak through gritted teeth, "First of all, let me make it clear. I have a name and it's Bella Swan, not _lady_. Secondly, I want to talk to you."

His black eyes bore into mine as he says, "Fine, _Swan_, come with me."

"Where?"

"In my helicopter. We can talk there away from prying eyes."

Narrowing my eyes at him, I ask, "Do you really think I'm that dumb? That I'll happily go on a ride with you in your chopper and you'll shove me out of it in midair and when anyone asks, you'll just say that I got infected with the virus and decided to take a nosedive out of lunacy? I don't think so, Jerk Black."

He looks at me like he would have loved nothing more than doing just that and then asks stonily, "Where do you want to talk then?"

Looking out at the field outside, I see a birch tree about ten feet away from his chopper. I point and say, "Let's go under that tree. It is way away from people that no one will be able to hear us."

"Fine." He moves his hand up like he is going to grab hold of my arm, and I quickly draw my hand away.

He seems to get the hint and walks out of the press box ahead of me.

Once we're standing under the tree, I speak first. "Where is Dr. Cullen?"

He rolls his eyes at me and snap, "Is this just about your boyfriend? I don't have time for losers like Cullen."

Something inside me explodes as I hear him call the sweet, shy man I have met just a few times a loser.

"Shut the fuck up. You don't get to call him a loser. I _know_ that you had him kidnapped," I spit out.

"Oh yeah? What else do you _think_ you know?" he challenges me.

"I know that in the area you have had surrounded by wire fences an alien species is hiding. I know that Edward has written an algorithm for making contact with extraterrestrial species, I know that he is a brilliant man. And I know that I will make your life hell if you don't agree to help me out."

The corners of his mouth quirk upward in a sarcastic smile as he sneers at me. "Really? You, a puny pen-wielding girl, are going to make my life hell? How? Do tell."

Looking straight into his eyes, I say, "I just had about fifty journalists take your picture back in there and introduced you by your name. How much time do you think any one of them will need before researching your name and finding it on the CERN website? I'm sure in their organogram, you're listed as a physicist specializing in extraterrestrial connectivity and not a doctor. How do you think they'll react when they find out that you're here to make a deal with an alien that might wish to invade our planet? Tell me."

He huffs out a breath and asks, "How much money do you need to keep your mouth shut?"

Inside, I smile a little, knowing that he's starting to step into my trap. This is the thing with greedy people like Black—they think everyone wants money just like them.

On the outside, I shrug nonchalantly and reply, "We'll have time to discuss figures later. First, I need you to tell me where Edward is."

When he doesn't say anything, I deadpan, "Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way will be for you to let go of Edward and then we'll come to some _understanding_. And the hard way will be for you to wait till I call a press conference and do an exposé on you, and then to let go of Edward. The choice is yours."

He glowers at me and asks, "How do I know that I can trust you?"

I grin at him. "You don't, but it's the only choice you've got."

He lets out a deep sigh and finally says, "We'll do this your way then, Swan. Go to the Fairmont Hotel in an hour. Cullen will be waiting there for you."

With that, he stomps away toward his helicopter and I carefully let out the breath I have been holding the whole time.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

About twenty minutes after my meeting with Jacob Black, I am riding my bike toward the Fairmont Hotel when I hear the sound of my cell phone ringing.

If it was any other time, I would have let it go to voicemail because I am driving, but today, I take no chance. Removing one hand from the accelerator, I let the bike slow down a bit and reach for my phone.

"Hello?" I answer without looking at the caller I.D.

"Isabella?"

"Carlisle? You're Carlisle, right?" I gasp out loud.

"I am the one using Carlisle to speak with you."

"Well then, you're Carlisle for now," I argue.

"Fine. I am Carlisle … for now. I am calling to warn you."

I feel my eyebrows pull up.

"Warn me? About what?"

"A bright yellow minivan. It's going to try to hurt you."

"Hurt me? Who is in that minivan?" I ask again.

"Jacob Black's people. Be careful, Isabella."

"All right. I got it. Thanks, Carlisle." With another warning for me to be careful, the line gets disconnected and I move the phone away from my ear.

As I put my hand back on the accelerator, I surreptitiously check the road behind me.

I don't see any minivan behind me—yellow or otherwise—but I decide blending in is the best way to evade anyone trying to hurt me. So, increasing my speed, I weave in and out of the traffic, hoping like hell that whoever is pursuing me won't find me among the rush hour traffic.

It is not until I'm almost at the hotel where Edward is supposed to be that I notice a bright yellow minivan tailing me. I try to look for a gap to get away, but there seems to be cars all around me.

In my rearview mirror, I see a guy waving a hand out of one of the windows of the minivan, as if he is waving to someone on the other side of the road. Looking across the road, I don't see anyone wave back.

_Is he pretending? Is he the one Carlisle warned me about?_ I wonder.

I move my head to the side to try to sneak a peek at his face, but I cannot see it in the diming light of the day.

However, to my relief the minivan starts to pass by me without a glance at me.

I am just about to let out a sigh of relief when I feel something sting the back of my neck. Reflexively, I touch the spot and find a small needle there. As I pull it out of my skin, my head starts to feel dizzy.

I feel my grips on the bike slackening and quickly stop the bike in the middle of the road. Suddenly, I feel like my head is getting clouded and I desperately look at the direction of the minivan.

Just before the minivan is out of my eyesight, I see the man who must have injected me with some drug through that needle … the man who was pretending to wave at someone and I realize that he is the Stuck-up Dude from Edward's place last night—Jacob's puppet.

All around me commotion ensues with cars honking and people talking while I just stay hunched up in the middle of the road, feeling too weak to move.

"Miss? Are you all right?" I hear voices ask me, but I cannot make my lips move to form a response.

"What happened?" I hear a new voice ask from behind me.

The man squatting beside me replies in a worried voice, "We don't know yet. She was just driving and then stopped in the middle of the road. I think she might be having a seizure or a hypoglycemic shock."

"Maybe she has a weak heart," another voice from the crowd around me speculates.

I feel someone hold my wrist to check for pulse and then the first voice says, "Oh God! Her pulse is thready. I think we need to take her to a hospital immediately. Quickly, someone help me get her into my car."

As I am being lifted into the said car, I manage to get a glimpse of the guy holding my head and I recognize him as Officer Brody Simons—from the viral outbreak press box.

_No, please, don't let him take me. He's with the bad guys_, I want to scream at the onlookers, but no sounds come out of my mouth.

Simons lays me in the back of his car and asks the people surrounding us, "Anyone want to come to the hospital with her?"

"Sure, I'll go," another voice calls out, and I see another familiar face from the night before come to get inside the car with Simons.

_This is all a well-designed plan_, I realize.

After a few moments, the crowd disperses and allows the car carrying me to pass.

I use every ounce of energy I can muster and open my eyes. Through the rearview mirror, I see Simons look at me.

"Still awake back there, News Lady? Don't you worry, Swan. We're taking you to a really good doctor … Dr. Black? Ever heard of him?"

He and his partner bursts into laughter at his lame joke as I feel the darkness slowly engulf my consciousness.

**A/N: I know. I'm horrible for leaving you at a cliffy, but it was necessary. You'll see why next week. ;)**

**So ... thoughts? Good? Bad? Or just plain meh?**

**Hit me with them and leave a review.**

**In case you missed it, I published my entry for the Bandward Contest in my profile. It's called ****_Guitar Hero._**** Check it out and maybe leave a review? :)**

**The song I listened to for this chapter? Yep, you guessed it. ****_Supermassive Black Hole by Muse_****. :D**

**Oh and I finally got a twitter account. You can find me there for news about updates and teasers as TwiAddictAnne.**

**Until next week.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	8. Chapter-8: Secrets Revealed

**Disclaimer: Sadly, Twilight isn't mine. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-8: Secrets Revealed**

The first thing I feel is the heaviness in my head, as if it weighs a thousand pounds. As I slowly start to fight the haze of sleep still numbing my senses, I hear a sound nearby—the sound of movement.

I feel someone touch my face and then my wrist, most likely checking for my pulse.

For a moment, I consider lying still and pretending to be unconscious, but something about the hands touching me seems familiar. They feel different than the rough hands of people who carried me into the car when I was drugged.

Cautiously, I crack open one eye and find my vision filled with the back of a head … a head full of bronze colored hair.

_Edward!_

I must have gasped out loud because he turns to face me and I see that it is indeed Edward Cullen.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asks and helps me sit up slowly.

Leaning into him for support, I let my gaze move over the place we are in. It looks like some sort of basement with a lone light dangling from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

I look back at Edward and answer him, "I think they drugged me or something. My head feels like it's made of stone and my throat can easily give Sahara a run for its money in the perched department, but other than that, I think I'll live."

A small smile plays on his lips as he says, "You have been out for about twelve hours, I think. So, those are understandable." As an afterthought he adds, "By the way, it's nice of you to drop in."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I was planning on rescuing you, you know? You could show a little gratitude."

"Really? Why would you want to rescue me, Bella?" he asks innocently, and I am again struck with his simplicity. He's just so … adorable!

Hoping to lighten the moment, I try to smile at him. "I couldn't just let Black kill you after only one kiss now, could I?"

Even in the darkness, I see his cheeks darken slightly. I decide to let go of the teasing for now and ask seriously, "So what exactly is this place?"

He scratches his head and says, "I'm not so sure. When they brought me here it was dark outside. So I didn't get a good look, but if I had to guess, I'd say we're near the town border."

"How do you know that?"

He shrugs. "We drove for a long time and since my place is near the middle of town, I just made an assumption."

"Hmm …" I make a humming sound as I look around and then ask him, "Hey, have you seen my backpack?"

His voice sounds hopeful as he asks, "Why? Do you have an escape kit in there?"

I laugh at his words and shake my head. "Not really. I just have a mirror inside. Alice, my best friend, thinks I should have it on me at all times."

Standing up, he moves toward the corner of the room and when he returns, I can see him holding my backpack in his hand.

As he sets it down on the floor beside me he asks, "Why do you need the mirror?"

"I want to check if I'm looking like a wraith or not," I joke.

He looks confused as he says slowly, "I didn't realize you care about your looks so much."

"I don't, not really," I say as I shove my hand inside the bag. "I was hoping I could scare Jacob's pants off with my ghost impersonation."

I can hear the eye roll in his voice as he says, "Very funny, Bella."

Opening my mouth to say something even more ridiculous, I stop. Suddenly, a ray of hope lights up my heart as I grip a cold metallic device tightly in my hand.

"Edward," I say in a shaky voice. "We might be able to get ourselves out of this mess." And then I bring my hand out of the bag, clutching my cell phone tightly in my palm.

He casts a glance at my hand and then grimaces. "Not to be the downer in this situation, but your cell phone won't work, Bella."

I feel my eyebrows pull up in confusion. "You mean there's no signal here?"

"Not really. Your battery is dead. They searched your bag when they brought you in here. One of Jacob's henchmen, Brody, found your phone and then discharged your battery. I'm sorry."

I look closely at my phone and see that the screen is indeed dark. Still I try a few times to switch it on. When it remains dark, I sigh and drop it back inside my bag before pulling out the pocket mirror from inside.

After trying to tame my haystack like hair for a few minutes, I give up and pull out a rubber band to tie it up in a ponytail.

I hear a light chuckle come out of Edward, and childishly, poke my tongue out at him and then say, "I'm not vain or anything, you know? I just don't wanna look like a horror movie."

He smiles softly at me and says, "I would never think of you as vain, Bella and …"

When he doesn't continue, I prod a little. "And?"

He runs a hand through his hair and looks anywhere but at me before continuing. "And I don't know if this is the right time to say this, but I don't think you can ever look anything less than beautiful, Bella."

Even though I know that I am pretty decent looking, hearing Edward call me beautiful makes something flutter in my heart. I feel my cheeks heating up as I say teasingly, "I don't know about beautiful, but yeah, I have been told that I have a certain spark in me that will get me into trouble."

He laughs lightly at my words and nods. "That too. I think that spark is what got you caught today."

I shove his shoulder lightly and then say, "If that is the only reason behind my capture, then why are _you_ here?"

The smile slips off his face as he looks down at his hands and whisper, "Because I wrote that stupid code."

In a bold move, I touch the back of his hand and whisper back, "Did you give it to them?"

He shakes his head. "No, I didn't have to. After you left that night, they came back and tore through my house. They found it all by themselves."

"But then why did they bring you here? What more can they possibly want?" I ask, frowning.

He looks around us and replies nonchalantly, "I guess Jake doesn't want me to talk to anyone. Maybe he's just trying to figure out how to shut me up."

"Shut you up? How?" I ask again.

Edward leans his head back against the wall behind him and says, "I don't know, but Jake's pretty unimaginative. He thinks he can buy off anything with money. So if I had to guess, I'd say, he'll probably offer us money in exchange for our silence."

I finally blurt out the thought that has been plaguing my mind for a while. "They won't kill us, will they, Edward?"

His head snaps back up as he looks at me with wide eyes. "Kill us? Why will they kill us? Killing someone isn't that easy, Bella. I don't think we need to worry about that."

I move and sit beside him with our arms touching lightly, suddenly needing a bit of human touch as a reassurance. And then I say softly, "I don't trust Jacob, Edward."

He seems to hesitate for a moment before carefully laying his arm around my shoulders and hugging me slightly to him. "If he wanted you dead, he would have killed you when he picked you up, Bella. He wouldn't have gone through all that trouble of giving you a sedative and then bringing you here. I'm sure a lot of people have seen you collapse in the middle of the road. Don't you think it will look suspicious if your body suddenly turns up at the side of a road the next day? If I know one thing about Jake, it's that he's scared shitless of newspapers. He wouldn't like to make a headline anytime soon."

"I hope you're right," I murmur as I snuggle closer into his embrace. Maybe the drug is still in my system, or maybe the darkness around me is starting to play tricks on my mind, but suddenly, in his arms, I feel safe.

_Whatever happens, we will face it together._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

We remain silent for some time, and soon the silence starts to become unbearable to me. Raising my head from its perch on his shoulder, I call his name, "Edward?"

"Hmm?"

I meet his eyes and then say, "Can we talk about something other than this mess we are in right now? I don't like the silence and I don't want to think what might happen to us. So, can you please distract me?"

"If I say something stupid in order to distract you, do you promise not to hold that against me?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

I smile slightly at his question and nod. "Fire away!"

He keeps his arm around me and then slowly says, "I wish we could have met at a different circumstance."

I tilt my head to the side and catch his eyes. "What would have happened if we met at a different circumstance?"

He shrugs. "I would like to believe that instead of shying away from human contact, I would be bold enough to ask you out. I would have taken you out on candlelit dinners and even on long walks at a moonlit beach. I would have liked to have the chance to take you home to meet my parents … my mom and the real Carlisle."

His words tug at something in my heart, and suddenly, I find myself wishing we did have all those. My mind wanders off to how it would feel to really have him as my boyfriend.

A soft sigh leaves my lips before I can stop myself.

I feel his arm slacken from where it rests against my shoulder and when I hear his voice, I realize that he has misinterpreted my sigh of longing.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Bella. I actually … I haven't talked to a lot of girls, you know? So I might behave a bit awkwardly …" he starts rambling and while it's adorable, it also tells me that he's insecure about himself.

A part of me wants to wrap this insecure and slightly awkward, but yet sweet man in my arms.

Instead of doing that I lightly place a hand on his cheek and look into his eyes. "Despite what it might look like, I haven't had that much experience with guys either. Thank you for being honest with me. I wish we had met in a different situation as well."

The side of his mouth rises, putting that slightly lopsided smile on his face. I see his gaze falling from my face to my lips and instinctively I lick my lips.

In a barely audible whisper, he asks me, "Can I kiss you, Bella?"

"Uh-huh" is all I manage to say.

He holds my eyes as he brings both of his hands up to cup my cheek in between them. Once again I find myself trapped within the impossibly bright eyes of this man. As he slowly lowers his face to mine, a part of me wants to grab him and kiss his already while another part wants to keep things slow … to savor the moment.

Just before our lips can touch, he whispers to me, "It was just a request, you know? We don't have to if you don't want to."

Moving my hand to weave my fingers through his hair, I whisper back, "I want to."

That must be the answer he has been looking for because the next thing I know, his lips are on mine—teasing them, kissing them, sucking them like I am all he can feel, and in that moment, I feel something I have never felt before. I feel adored.

After a few close-mouthed kisses, I peek my tongue out of my mouth and carefully run it along his lips. A soft groan comes out of him as he slides one of his hands down my shoulder and places it around my waist while the other tilts my head to the side. Then our tongues are touching, and I never want this kiss to end.

When I start to feel light-headed from his kisses, he moves his head to the side and kisses just behind my ear. I cannot help but let out a moan as I feel his lips on my throat.

Slowly, he removes his lips from my body and moves his head back to look at my face. I can feel my cheeks burning under his gaze. He touches a finger to my cheekbone and whispers softly, "I like kissing you, Miss Swan."

Smiling at him, I answer back, "Likewise, Dr. Cullen."

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

After our kiss Edward and I sit side by side, feeling less awkward than before, when sudden sound of approaching footsteps come to our ears. We sit a little straighter as a door at the other end of the room opens.

In the dim light coming from the only ceiling light of the room, I can see the outline of a pretty bulked up man enter the room carrying a tray of food. He places the tray down on the floor in the middle of the room and then without even a glance at us, leaves—as if we are a part of the room décor.

As the door closes behind him, and the sound of a lock being clicked into place reaches us, Edward stands up and walks toward the tray of food. He motions for me to join him and then casts a dismal eye at the tray.

"You may not feel like eating in a situation like this, but I suggest we try to eat something. Who knows when they're gonna give us food again?"

I walk up to him and look down at the tray. There are two wrapped burgers and two bottles of water—that's it.

"You sure it's not poisoned?" I ask uncertainly.

He attempts to put on a brave face and smiles. "The food from last time wasn't poisoned. That gives us good odds, right?"

Seeing him try to stay positive makes me want to stay positive as well. So I grab his hand and tug him with me as I sit down on the cold floor.

I point at the light overhead and say, "This is no candle, but I think it is dim enough for us to consider the room to be candlelit."

He chuckles at my words and nods before reaching for the food. In silence, we wolf down the food, and only after drinking half of my bottle of water I realize just how hungry I was.

After finishing our meal, we again go to settle down in our corner when the door opens for the second time.

Six men enters the room and in the light coming from the flashlights in their hands, I can see Jacob Black standing at the front while five of his cronies stand behind him—each carrying a gun and a flashlight.

"Eddie! My dear, dear friend!" Black says in an obnoxious tone. "So sorry I couldn't come to welcome you sooner. I hope you have enjoyed your stay up until now. I _explicitly_ told everyone to not to bother you two." He gives me leery look, and in return I simply glare at him.

I feel Edward's body go stiff from beside me as he asks cautiously, "Jake, you have the code. Why did you bring us down here?"

"You two are pretty smart people. Haven't you figured it out yet?" He taunts us.

We both keep silent, waiting for him to spit it out.

Finally, Black focuses his gaze on Edward and says, "You are here so that you two wouldn't be able to do anything to stop Mission: Treaty."

"Mission: Treaty? What's that?" Although I know that keeping quiet is the best thing to do, I blurt out the question nonetheless.

Black keeps his eyes on Edward as he responds, "You remember what we were working on before you left the organization, Cullen?"

When Edward nods, he continues. "Well, we got a response back from space just after your leaving. That's when we made the tough call to make a deal—a treaty, if you will—with species out of our world. That is Mission: Treaty."

"What exactly does this treaty entail?" Edward asks quietly.

"Ah! You know the usual." Black says in an offhand manner. "We made a deal with a species far more intelligent than us so that they will give us some of their technology."

"What? Are you insane? Jacob, you know the first law of intellectual contact is not to cut a deal with them."

The aloofness in Black's voice disappears as Edward shouts at him. "Hey, it is necessary. You know how horrible the world's economical condition is at the moment? Do you have any idea how much any country will pay to have the upper hand in this? A fucking fortune, Cullen! The technology we will receive has the ability to change the history of the entire fucking world!"

"I always knew that you were an asshole, but even I didn't think just how low you'll go for money," Edward snaps at him.

Black looks coldly at him and snaps back, "When the species leave after giving me the most powerful technology the world can even imagine, no one will call me an asshole."

"Have you been able to make initial contact after their arrival?"

Jacob nods. "Yes, we used your code for it. You should be proud of yourself, buddy. Your shit actually works."

Edward seems to be immune to his insults as he asks again, "I bet you didn't have proper authentication for that."

"Dude, have you been smoking pot?" Jacob laughs. "Of course, I didn't have proper authentication. We rebelled against the CERN authorities and left once we managed to get Mission: Treaty into motion."

Suddenly, I ask a question that has been bothering me from the moment Black told us about his stupid mission. "Why here? Why the United States? There are probably dozens of other unpopulated lands out there—the Sahara, the Antarctica for crying out loud. Why did you have to bring then here?"

A nasty smile comes over his face as he replies, "We couldn't threaten anyone with nuclear warfare in those places, sweetheart. Here, your government officials have been so compliant once we informed them that our nuclear missiles have been set to be targeted for here."

Then, as an afterthought he adds, "Besides, our guests were interested to come to somewhere near people. They wanted to be close to humans."

For the first moment since this discussion has started, I feel a shock of fear go through me. "Why?"

"They said they were interested in occupying human bodies for a while—just out of curiosity, you know?"

I hold my breath as I ask the next question, "Have they?"

He scratches his head lightly and then says, "A little bit. Nothing too noticeable yet."

I reach for Edward's hand in the darkness as suddenly it strikes me where Laurent Grissom's body must have disappeared.

I feel him squeeze my hand, and then he says to Black, "You do realize that you have endangered every life on this planet, don't you, Jacob? What will happen if your _guest_ doesn't want to leave the earth, huh?"

Black doesn't look too bothered by the question when he says, "For gaining something so powerful, we have to make some necessary sacrifices."

"You can gamble with your own life, Jake, but not others. What technology are you getting from them anyway?"

"The initial deal was just the technology for the alloy they use to make their spaceship, but I'm trying to negotiate a way to get the design for the engine as well," the fucker says proudly.

The way he brags makes me question why he is being so generous with the information. So I ask, "Why are you telling us all this? You know we aren't exactly your number one fans."

He raises a hand and points toward Edward. "I think he deserves to know how helpful his code is being for me."

Then he looks at me and sneers. "You, however, are a different story, Princess. I'm telling you because you won't be able to do shit to me."

"In case you have forgotten, I work in a newspaper, Jacob. I can expose you even now." I spit out at him.

"Of course, I remember. Why do you think I brought you to lover-boy here instead of just killing you in the middle of the road? Let me show you something interesting." He holds his hand out to one of his bodyguards and the guy places a large manila envelope on his outstretched hand.

Black walks up to where we are sitting and offers the envelope to us. Slowly, Edward reaches up and takes it. He opens it and then takes in a sharp breath.

I move my eyes from Black and look at Edward. "What is it?" I ask.

When he doesn't answer me, I grab the envelope and open it to find at least ten enlarged photos inside—photos of Edward and I.

All the photos show us in various states of undress as we sat in a cozy looking restaurant surrounded by bottles of vodka and beer. Anyone who sees these will think we're getting trashed.

The last one even has us what can only be guessed as dry humping right in the middle of the restaurant.

"Interesting, no?" Black grins at us. "In case you get all confused, I'll tell you what is happening in these pictures. You see, Miss Swan, you and your boyfriend here, decided to have a wild night of drinking and dining in the city and then when you go riding your motorcycle with him, you crash horribly in your drunken stupor, resulting in a tragic end of the sexy yet wild life of Isabella Swan and her boyfriend Edward Cullen."

Shoving the photos back inside the envelope, I croak, "Photoshop?"

"What else? And don't worry about getting drunk. We'll inject you with the alcohol before the accident. Pretty flawless planning on my part, huh?" He snatches the envelope from my hands and turns to hand it back to one of his people.

Before I know what's happening, Edward shoots up from where he is sitting and grabs Black's shirt collar in both hands. "I get that you hate me, but you don't get to punish her for that, you fucker!" he yells, shaking Jacob angrily.

Two of Black's bodyguards hold their guns up, pointed right at Edward's head, and I let out a scream. "Edward, look out!"

Edward's hands loosen as he turns to look at me and Black shakes him off of himself. When one of his rats raises a hand to punch Edward, he says stonily, "Leave them. I don't want any mark on their bodies except for what will happen in the crash. I want their deaths to look as natural as possible."

Then he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him and drowning us in the darkness once again.

Edward, who has been remarkably strong throughout the confrontation with Black, falls down on his knees as soon as he is in front of me.

He looks at me with sad eyes and whisper, "I'm sorry that knowing me has brought this on you."

Shaking my head, I throw my arms around him and whisper back, "No, this is not how we're gonna end. I am Isabella Swan and I refuse to let some psychotic greedy asshole win. I'll find a way to get us out, Edward. I promise."

**A/N: So … thoughts? Good? Bad? Just plain meh?**

**Hit me with them and leave a review, please?**

**This chapter was getting ridiculously long, so I decided to divide it in two parts. But hey, they kissed. That's something, right? ;)**

**Songs I listened to while writing this are: ****_Kiss From A Rose_**** by Seal and ****_Secrets_**** by One Republic.**

**If you haven't checked out my TFLN entry yet, you can find it in my profile under the name Request for Permission.**

**Until next week.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	9. Chapter-9: The First Ray of Light

**Disclaimer: Twilight Saga belongs to Stephenie Meyer, and War of The Worlds is a masterpiece by H. G. Wells. However, this Crazyward, Kick-assElla and DigitalCarl belong to me. ;)**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-9: The First Ray of Light**

I sit there with my back against the wall and watch Edward pace restlessly in front of me. The way he keeps running his fingers through his hair tells me that it's a nervous habit of his.

The anxiety, and the fact that I cannot still wrap my head around what is happening to us, makes my control snap, and I snort out in a very unattractive manner.

He stops pacing and looks at me incredulously. "Are you laughing? Bella, do you realize just how dangerous our situation is right now?"

Shaking my head, I reply, "Yes, I do know. I wasn't laughing because of the mess we're in right now."

When he keeps looking at me, I add, "I was laughing about Carlisle."

"Carlisle?"

"Yes." I nod. "Remember how you said he's a simple computer program?"

He walks up to me and sits across from me. "That was before the night you visited me for the first time."

"What difference does the time make?" I ask, suddenly feeling intrigued.

He scratches the back of his neck and then says, "I wasn't so sure about it before … I mean I had my hunch, but now, after hearing Jacob speak, I'm sure of it."

I make an impatient noise. "When you're done thinking out loud, feel free to clue me in."

"Sorry," he mutters apologetically. "Do you remember that I wired my transmitter to the computer to transmit my code throughout the city later that night?"

I nod. "Yeah, that's how he managed to call me when Jerkob came to your house."

He slaps his hand on the floor beside him looking all excited. "Exactly!"

_What the fuck is he talking about?_ I think, as I continue to just stare at him.

"You didn't get it?" he asks me eagerly.

"No."

"Carlisle is the counterpart of the alien Jacob managed to bring here."

"I'm sorry Carlisle's a _what_ now?" I ask, feeling my eyes widen as my mind tries to make sense of his words.

Edward seems to think for a moment before starting to talk. "You know how balance and symmetry works, right?"

"Yeah," I answer slowly. "Like for every super villain, there's a superhero, right?"

He chuckles. "I was going to say matter and anti-matter or Hitler and Mother Teresa, but Green Goblin and Spiderman works as well."

Suddenly, it all becomes clear to me, and I ask him disbelievingly, "Edward, do you mean that Carlisle isn't just an artificially intelligent computer program? Rather he's a _good alien_ who has come here as a counterpart of the evil aliens that Jerkob called?"

"Good alien? That doesn't sound right. How about friendly alien instead? It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" he asks offhandedly, and for the first time since meeting him, I wonder whether he really is a little crazy.

Being the sarcastic bitch I can be at times, I roll my eyes at him. "Yeah, right! Like Casper–the friendly ghost, we have Carlisle—the friendly E.T.!"

"Think about it …" he starts, but I shut him up.

"No! If you are right about him being some 'super intelligent intergalactic crime fighter' or some shit, he should contact us right now. We're in danger, and he's supposed to help us … if he is what you think he is," I say snarkily, complete with air quotes.

My convoluted sentence makes him blink and then he says softly, "Although I didn't refer to him as 'super intelligent intergalactic crime fighter,' I should point out that even if he wanted to contact us, he couldn't. We have no mode of communication, Bella."

"I have my phone with me," I shoot.

"Which has a dead battery," he counters.

I give him an exasperated look and ask, "Are you kidding me? He was like a fucking psychic when he predicted my kidnapping, and now he cannot even charge the battery to call us? I refuse to believe that."

I was in a full rambling mode when a sudden shrill sound breaks through my thoughts. Startled, I grab at my backpack and rifle through it, feeling optimistic and praying like hell that it is what I think it is.

The moment I feel the vibrations of my ringing phone against my palm, I let out a squeak of delight and bring the thing out of the bag.

Meeting Edward's bewildered eyes for a brief moment, I look down to see 'unknown number' on the display and then hit the answer button.

"I swear to God, if you're not Carlisle, I'm gonna cuss the fuck out of you," I say in greeting.

A very calm voice answers from the opposite end, "_I don't know what that might entail, but it does sound like you are threatening me. So can I ask you to calm down?_"

I motion for Edward to come and sit beside me, and when we're huddled close together, I put the call on speaker.

"All right, Carlisle, you're on speaker. I managed to find Edward. He's right here with me."

"_I know that, Isabella. Congratulations. Although when I asked you to go and find him, I did not intend for you to get yourself caught, but you did find him this way_," he says in a placating tone.

"Hey!" I protest. "First of all, I didn't intend to get caught myself, you know-it-all. And secondly, if you knew we were in here why didn't you contact us sooner? The dead battery obviously doesn't matter to you."

"_I did not actually know you were hoping for me to contact you_," he responds. "_I thought you would have found a way to get out by now. When I realized that you were waiting for a call from me only then I decided to call you._"

I turned my head to give Edward a _can-you-believe-he's-serious_ look. Edward puts a hand on my shoulder and speaks softly, "All right, first things first. Carlisle, can you get us out of here?"

"_How do you want me to get you out?_"

Edward frowns a little and then asks, "Can't you fly us or float us out of the skylight on the far corner? I know it's a bit small, but maybe you can blast it off to make it larger so that we can pass through."

"_Or maybe I can teleport you out from there and inside your house?_"

"Oh my God! You can do that?" I whisper-yell in relief.

"_No, Isabella, I was just making a joke_," Carlisle deadpans.

Childishly, I poke my tongue out at the inanimate device in my hand.

"_I can see you pulling faces at me, you know?_"

"Good, because that was a very mean joke," I grumble.

I feel Edward rub my back as he tries to calm me down. "Okay, how about we try to instill good humor in our friend here some other time, huh, Bella?"

After getting a reluctant nod from me, he continues, "So let me get this straight, Carlisle. You cannot get us out of here?"

"No, I'm sorry. As I have already told Isabella, I am prohibited from touching anything that might modify your civilization," he replies, sounding a little sad.

"But your evil counterpart is using humans like meat suits, for fuck's sake! The least you can do is save our lives, or do you not care if we live or die at all?" I demand.

"_If I didn't care about your lives then I wouldn't be keeping an eye out for you,_" he says calmly.

I lean my head forward in frustration and then say quietly, "Keeping an eye out for us isn't working. You need to up the ante on our favor a little bit."

There is silence on the other side for a few long moments. Edward tips my hand to the side to check if the call was still connected, and that's when we hear Carlisle's voice again. "_I think I can provide you with some information that you might find beneficial._"

We perk up a little, and I say, "Okay. Shoot."

"_Shoot? Whom am I going to shoot? Isabella, I cannot kill humans. You should have figured it out about me by now._"

Even in the situation we are in, I cannot help but laugh a little at Carlisle's confused answer. He reminds me a little of Carlisle—the computer program.

Edward facepalms. "Carlisle, what she meant was you can give us the information if you can."

"_Then why didn't she say _that_? You know, where I come from shoot means …_"

"Okay!" I interrupt his rambling. "Fine. Please give us the information you have, Carlisle."

He sounds pleased at my tone this time and starts talking. "The room you are in right now is in the basement."

Edward frowns. "That's all? We kind of figured that out ourselves."

"Not quite," comes the response. "You see the ceiling of the room is made of lightweight plywood and it is pretty low."

I look up and see that indeed the ceiling is low, like the ones they have in modern buildings.

"In the middle of the ceiling, you will see a light bulb hanging. Upon removing the light, you will find a duct big enough for you to crawl through there. If you go up that duct, you will find yourselves in a short tunnel through which all the wirings of the building pass. If you follow the tunnel, you should be able to get inside a room in the upper storey. It should be easy to get out of the building from there."

I wait till he stops talking before asking, "Even if we do manage to get out of the building, don't we have to pass a main gate?"

"Yes, you do."

"Is there anyone guarding that gate?"

"Yes, there are four armed guards in that area."

I slump back and say, "Then we won't be able to escape without detection. And if they're armed, I don't think we'll be able to outrun four of them."

"Do they have any cars outside? Maybe in a garage or a parking lot?"

Edward's question makes me look at him in confusion. He looks excited all of a sudden.

"Yes," Carlisle answers. "There are three cars in the garage."

Edward turns to meet my eyes and says, "Bella, we can drive out of here. If we use one of their cars, the guards wouldn't be able to tell if it's us or one of their own."

Hope blooms, and I join in. "Besides, if they figure it out before we can leave, the car should protect us from bullets."

Edward nods, smiling.

As the whole plan sinks in, I pull a face. "There's a little glitch in our plan though."

"What?"

Biting my lip, I grimace. "I can't drive a car. I can ride a bike like I'm the spawn of Evil Knievel, but cars—not really my thing."

"I can," Edward pipes up from beside me. "But where are we going to get the keys? I don't think Jake's gonna hand them over to me if I ask nicely."

"You will have to hotwire it," I shoot back.

"That's the problem, Bella," he says, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know how to hotwire a car. I am not a big fan of Grand Theft Auto, you know?"

I open my mouth to spout out something sarcastic when Carlisle speaks through the phone. "I'll tell you what to do."

Edward's face straightens up as he smiles thankfully at the phone. "Thanks, Carl."

"You're welcome. So are we ready to start getting the two of you out?"

"Yes, sir," I say with a mock salute.

"Get on to it then. Good luck Ms. Swan, Dr. Cullen." With these words, the screen goes dark again.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Stowing my phone in my back pocket, I stand up and hold my hand out to Edward. "Come on. We need to get our asses out of here before your psychotic ex-coworker comes back to kill us."

"Sorry …" he starts as he takes my hand and allows me to pull him up.

I quickly lean forward and kiss the corner of his mouth. "Shh. No more apologizing for knowing a fucktard. You didn't do anything. You got that?"

He nods and wraps his arm around my waist, trapping me in his embrace. In a low whisper he asks, "May I have one more kiss before we make the run for our lives, Beautiful girl?"

I feel my cheeks heat up at his sweet words. Leaning in, I wrap my arms around his neck and bring our lips inches apart. "We're not gonna die, Edward. We're gonna get out of here and stop Jacob fucking Black. You wanna know why?"

"Why?" he asks, making our lips brush lightly.

"Because I want to have that candlelit dinner with you … for real. And I want to be a mess of nerves as you take me to meet you mom and the real Carlisle. Just because we met smack in the middle of this freaky mess doesn't mean that we cannot have all of that. Who knows? I might even enjoy walks in moonlit beaches. I never had those with anyone before."

"Neither have I, Bella, and I think sharing those with you sounds wonderful," he whispers.

"Then it's a date?" I ask shyly.

"Yes, it is, Beautiful." And then his lips are on mine, and all my mind wants to feel is Edward. For a moment, I forget that we are in a huge mess and about to make a run for our lives. I kiss him back fervently, letting our tongues slide against each other, feeling him, tasting him.

Once we're out of breath, he separates our mouths and leans his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes. "Shall we get started so that we can get to that date sooner, Bella?"

I nod and with great difficulty move away from him.

A few minutes later, as I inspect the ceiling of the room, I ask him abruptly, "Do you think you can manage to carry me over your shoulder?"

"What?" I turn my head just in time to see him blink in confusion.

Smiling, I explain my words to him. "If I stand on your shoulders, I think I can reach the duct on the ceiling."

He seems to think for a moment before answering. "I don't know, Bella. Can you maintain your balance? I don't want you to fall and get hurt."

I shrug. "I can try. How about I climb on your shoulder using the wall for support, and then you slowly move toward the middle of the room?"

He nods. "It's worth a try, I guess. But even if you do manage to climb up the duct, then how on earth am I going to get up there? I won't have anyone to give _me_ a boost."

"All we need is a rope," I say instantly.

"Sure." He smirks a little as his tone turns sarcastic. "I was just wondering what we were going to do with all these invisible rope we have."

I roll my eyes at him and poke my tongue out. "I can be crafty when needed, Dr. Cullen. You should keep that in mind for future references."

His eyes widen as he catches my innuendo.

This time, I smirk back at him, liking the effect I had on him.

Without saying another word, I pull off my jacket, leaving my blue tank top on me.

"Bella? What are you doing?" his voice sounds hoarse as he asks.

Smiling to myself, I turn my eyes on him. "Take off your shirt."

"What?"

I huff and grab the collars of his flannel shirt before pushing it off his shoulders. For a moment, I let my eyes run over his body in his fitted T-shirt.

_I might have to inspect those muscles in daylight some day_, I think to myself.

He simply stands there, looking like he just got hit by lightning.

"Relax, Edward. I'm not going to molest you … not in here at least. I'm borrowing your shirt to make a rope," I tell him, and then start knotting the shirt with my jacket to create a makeshift rope for him.

He mumbles something which suspiciously sounds like "I don't think I would have minded if you did," as he leans back against the wall to see me work.

Once I am done, I hold up the bundle to him and ask, "Do you think if I hang it down from up there, you'll be able to climb up?"

He scratches the back of his neck. "I don't know. I actually don't have many practices with climbing up shirt-ropes."

I try to smile encouragingly at him and reply, "Don't worry, if you keep a tight grip on it, I think I'll be able to pull you up."

"You?" he sounds skeptic as he asks.

"Despite what it looks like, I am not as weak as you seem to think I am."

He chuckles. "I think you're one of the strongest people I know, Bella. And for the record, I am not as strong as you seem to think I am."

I cannot help but smile at his words.

_He really is an adorable guy._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

I let my fingers tangle in his hair as I sit on his back. "I'm gonna stand up now," I warn before carefully moving to stand on Edward's shoulders.

He grips my ankle in one hand and places the other one on the wall beside him as he slowly starts to stand up from his kneeling position.

I hold my breath as he stands up and finally let out a sigh of relief when he is standing straight. I tighten my grip on my shoes as I hold them away just in case they land on his face and use my other hand against the wall to keep my balance.

A sudden thought strikes me and I ask, "Hey, am I too heavy?"

I hear the sound of his soft laughter as he responds, "Bella, you're not as light as my usual grocery bag, but I think I can manage."

Giggling at his comparison, I promise, "Okay. If we do get out of this shitty situation alive and in one piece, I'll try to lose some weight."

"You're perfect just the way you are, Bella," he says, making me blush once again. "Besides, I don't think I'll have to continue moving around with you standing on my shoulder in the future."

"That's true."

For the next several minutes, we hold our breaths as Edward moves to the center of the room, and I wrap my jacket around my hand as I unscrew the light bulb from its socket, immediately dousing us with darkness.

I wait a few moments to allow my eyes to get accustomed to the darkness and then use my free hand to feel the ceiling above me.

_Looks like Carlisle was right. There really is a duct here, _I think as I push on the ceiling panel. It moves to the side, exposing the duct to my eyes.

I look down at Edward and say quietly, "Edward, you'll have to stay very still now. I'm going to climb up the duct."

I see his head bob up and down from between my legs as he whispers, "Good luck, Bella."

Throwing my shoes through the hole in the ceiling, I start to pull myself up. As I use my arms to pull myself inside the duct, I realize that this part isn't half as bad as I was expecting it to be. Of course Edward holding my legs and giving me the push helps a lot as well.

Once I am inside the opening of the duct, I sit back to take a breath and let my legs dangle from there.

"It's a good thing I wasn't wearing a dress today," I say just to fill up the silence.

"Why?" Edward asks from the ground.

I snort. "Clearly, you have no idea about dresses. Do you know how hard it would have been to climb up here in a dress? Hell, I could have even given you a peepshow!"

He starts coughing at my comment and then says, "I'm sure you will look lovely in a dress, Bella."

I think for a moment. "How about instead of losing weight, I promise to wear a dress just for you once this whole War of the Worlds thing is over. Deal?"

"Deal." I can hear the smile in his voice as he asks me, "Do I need to do something special for the occasion?"

"I don't know …" I say slowly. "Maybe I can give you an official apology for intruding in your life and turning it upside down?"

"Why would you apologize? Jacob fucking Black is my ex-coworker, not yours. If anyone should apologize it should be me."

"What did I say about not apologizing for knowing that asshole? How about you take me on that candlelit dinner that day then?" I suggest.

His mood seems to be lighter when he replies to me, "Perfect."

Once I've caught my breath, I throw down the bundle of our jacket and shirt and watch as he scrambles to climb up the thing.

When he is at arm's length, I fist the front of his T-shirt in my hand and pull him up with as much strength as I can muster. As he pushes himself up, I lose my balance and tumble backwards with him landing right on top of me.

I feel his hand on the back of my head, preventing me from banging it on the wall around us. Looking up, I find his face hovering over mine as his breath brushes on my face, and his hands hold my hips tightly.

Involuntarily, a giggle bursts out of my lips, making him look down at me like I was mentally challenged. "Are you laughing?"

"Sorry," I say, trying to stop my untimely giggle-fest. "I kind of feel bad for Jerkob."

"What?" He sounds shocked at my answer.

"Just think of how much trouble he went through with creating those images of the two of us. Since then, we have kissed, and now we're lying in a tangled mess with our clothes disheveled," I reply. "All the poor guy would have needed is a camera and a photographer."

Edward finally seems to catch up on my line of thoughts as he laughs with me and moves off of me to sit up. "You might have been right, except for one thing."

"Yeah? What's that?" I ask, turning my face to him.

"What Jake tried to show in those pictures is romance and lust. And the way you yanked me up a few minutes ago can be interpreted as a lot of things, but I don't think romance is one of them."

I pshshaw at his remark. "You clearly haven't watched recent Hollywood romance movies."

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Now a days, nothing says romance like a few killers on the loose and action, blood and mayhem," I respond knowledgably.

"Then I guess we're in the middle of a romance novel?"

"Who knows? With you, I wouldn't mind being in a romance novel," I respond with a wink before starting to move down the dark tunnel ahead of us.

And in that moment, I realize that if I am going to romance the pants off a guy, Dr. Edward Cullen seems like a good choice for it.

**A/N: So ... thoughts? Good? Bad? Anti-climactic?**

**Hit me with them and leave a review, please?**

**I thought they needed a little reprieve from all the sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat action, so I came up with this one. :D**

**FYI, I borrowed the meat-suit comment from Dean, but hey, he doesn't mind. He told me so in my dream. ;)**

**All your reviews about Jacob being insane cracked me up. Yes, he is pretty psychotic. If you want to read more of psychotic Jacob, try my one-shot, Radioactive Love. :)**

**The song recs for this chapter are: ****_Save You Tonight_**** by One Direction and ****_Everything's Gonna Be Alright_**** by Enrique Iglesias.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**The new flash for Flashes of Bronze is now up! Check it out? :)**

**Until next week.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	10. Chapter-10: Cranking Up The Heat

**Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn't belong to me. However, Carlisle the friendly E.T. is definitely mine. :)**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-10: Cranking Up The Heat**

**EPOV**

"Bella, wait," I call in a low voice and then turn back to put the ceiling panel back in its place. Once the panel is back in place, the slight light coming from the skylight in the basement is cut off, leaving us in total darkness.

I wait for a few moments until my eyes get accustomed to the darkness. When I can see my hands, I look at Bella to see her smile at me.

"Good thinking," she whispers.

I try to smile back at her and whisper back, "Thanks. Let's get moving, shall we?"

Nodding, she turns her head back and crawls through the tunnel, going the only way open to us—forward.

After moving forward in silence for some time, Bella stops and carefully pries open what can only be another panel like the one we used to escape through. I move closer to her, and together we peek inside the brightly-lit room underneath us.

In the room, we see five heavily-muscled men sitting around a table with tumblers full of what looks to be Vodka and a few decks of cards strewn on top of the table.

Silently, I reach out to touch the back of Bella's hand, and her eyes find mine. I can detect the spark of anger in her eyes as she looks down once more to take a look at the pawns Jacob has guarding his place.

Easing her fingers off of the panel, I carefully put it back in place. I notice that the duct tunnel around us widens from the point we are in. So, wordlessly, I take Bella's hand and lead her away from the spot.

As we keep moving forward, the sound of a low rumbling reaches us. I realize that it might be coming from some type of exhaust system of the building.

Nudging Bella's shoulder lightly, I motion toward the source of the sound with my head. She nods, silently telling me that she agrees with me.

When we are almost close to the source of the sound, we find that it is indeed an exhaust fan. We barely take two steps when our only ray of hope—the phone with a dead battery—starts ringing softly.

"Oh, thank fuck!" Bella exclaims as she takes the phone out of her jeans pocket and puts it on speaker mode.

"_Isabella?_" Carlisle's voice asks from the other end of the phone.

Bella opens her mouth to respond, but in a hushed voice, Carlisle warns us. "_Do not speak. The way you need to head goes over a few rooms full of people with maps and guns. They will catch you if you make any sound. I called at this point because I felt that you might need my help and the exhaust fan ahead of you will drown out my voice._"

I give a silent nod to the phone, hoping that he could interpret that as understanding on our parts.

"_Good_," he says. "_If you go a few more steps, you will come to a bifurcation in the tunnel. You need to take the left turn and go forward for about five minutes. I will contact you when you are there._"

And then the line goes silent.

Shaking my head, I think to myself, _friendly E.T. or not, this guy needs to work on his goodbyes._

Bella looks at me, and then together, we follow Carlisle's instruction to the T.

Once we have crawled forward for some time after taking the turn, Bella's phone vibrates with an incoming text message.

_At the moment, you're right above the room where Jacob Black's right-hand man, Brody Simons, is studying maps of the surrounding area. So try not to make any noise while you move. Also, Jacob Black will be going to the basement to say his goodbyes to the two of you in about half an hour. So you have to move fast._

Bella rolls her eyes at me and types out a response.

_So, pretty much no pressure, right?_

The incoming message makes me want to curse the alien without any sense of humor. But seeing that he bears the same name as my stepfather, I choose to run my hand through my hair, tugging at it to let out the frustration instead.

_No pressure? Isabella, are you out of your mind? The two of you are making a run for your lives. Of course you're in pressure … lots of it, to tell you the truth._

Bella doesn't seem to be able to put a lid on it like me though. Under her breath, she murmurs, "Cheeky fucking E.T.!"

Stifling a chuckle, I take the phone from her hand and hit reply.

_Just tell us which way to go, Carl._

His response is instantaneous.

_You know, Edward, I'm not a big fan of that nickname, but since you used to call your software by that name, I will let that slide._

_Now, you are about to come to another branching of the tunnel. Take the left turn again and go straight for at least ten minutes. You will come to a point where the tunnel branches into four narrower tunnels. At that point, you need to open the ceiling panel just before the branching and drop inside the room. It will be empty when you enter._

_I will make contact once you are inside the room._

I give Bella her phone back, and then we recommence our crawling once again.

As we keep moving forward, I realize that Carlisle is indeed right about the building's duct system.

Soon we reach the point where we need to get out of the tunnel.

This time, I volunteer to open up the ceiling panel and take a look inside the room below.

Just like Carlisle promised, the room is deserted, and the drop seems to be from a manageable height.

"I'll go first," I whisper to Bella before taking a deep breath and carefully jumping down through the opening in the ceiling.

Once I am standing on my feet, Bella throws down the bundle of our shirt and jacket followed by her small backpack that she insisted on carrying herself all the way, and then she jumps as well.

I grab hold of her waist to help steady her and when I am sure that she has regained her footing, I let go of her.

Reaching down, I pick up our clothes. I hold out her jacket for her before donning on my shirt.

After the dimly lit basement and the dark tunnel, the bright light of the room hits my eyes hard and I quickly pull out my glasses from my pocket and put them on.

A soft gasp comes from beside me and I turn to see Bella staring at me with an open mouth. "You … you wear glasses?"

I try not to pull a face as I answer her. "I usually wear my contacts, but when they took me, I didn't have them on. And since we have been in the dark, I didn't need the glasses that much. The light sort of hurts my eyes …"

At this point, I realize that I am rambling and quickly shut my mouth.

"Mmm," Bella murmurs as she smiles at me. "Who knew glasses could be a turn on?"

I feel the tips of my ears heat up at her words.

She takes my hand and says, "That's one more thing you need to do for me on our date."

Instinctively, I lean down and press a kiss on her forehead. "As you wish, beautiful girl."

Our moment is broken by the low ringing sound Bella's cell phone. The moment Bella slides her finger over the answer button, we hear, "Open the door and go right."

"Aye, Aye, Capt.," Bella says, holding the phone in one hand, and then together we slip out of the room before turning right.

When we are to the point where Carlisle told us to go, he speaks again. "All right. Now you have exactly twenty three seconds to run across the corridor and go hide behind the pillar on the other side. Ready?"

"Yeah," I reply for both of us.

"Go!"

We hold our breaths as we try to run as quietly as possible and finally manage to hide behind the said pillar.

"Good. Now you need to wait for two minutes while a few humans pass through a door from the opposite end of the corridor."

I wind an arm around Bella's waist and hold her close to me while the sound of passing footsteps reaches us. I start to mentally count the seconds.

I'm almost at hundred and seventeen when he speaks once more. "Okay. Now you two have to make a run for it. Do you see a door to your right?"

Bella nods in a silent reply.

"It is a backdoor of the house. You have thirty seconds to open the door and get out. You will find yourselves in a garden. You need to hide behind the bushes in there for ten seconds. Go, now!"

I take a deep breath and keep my hold on Bella as we open the door and slip outside. I see that we are indeed in a garden full of blooming trees.

Bella tugs on my hand, and together we crouch behind a rose bush.

Carlisle's voice comes from the phone again. "Excellent. Now you need to wait ten seconds and then start crawling toward the main garage."

We keep our heads down as we crawl, blindly following Carlisle's directions. I feel the grovel and stones underneath me tear at my shirt, but I decide not to worry about minor cuts and bruises for now.

_The most important thing is to get out of here with Bella in one piece_, I keep telling myself.

"Stop."

Carlisle's sudden words make us stop in our tracks as we hold our breaths and wait for whatever the hell made him warn us.

"A car is about to pass by you. Wait till the car is out of hearing range and then make a run for the garage. Can you see the three cars parked in there?"

Bella and I both nod our heads in the affirmative.

"Take the one in the middle. It is a sports utility vehicle with a four-wheel drive. Dr. Cullen, you have to be the one to drive."

I nod, feeling the pressure to get the beautiful and brave girl beside me out of this hellhole and into safety.

That moment, we see a Volkswagen come in through the main gate and pass us by. When the rumbling noise of the engine faints, Bella touches my hand, silently telling me that it is time.

I take her hand and make a run for the garage. The darkness of the twilight sky acts as our cover as we rush to the garage and reach the car Carlisle told us to take.

The moment I see the car, I feel my eyes bug out. It wasn't just some sports car; it was a shiny silver Ferrari!

I softly open the passenger-side door and allow Bella to get in before hurrying to the driver's side.

We barely manage to put on the seatbelts when Carlisle speaks through the phone once more. "You need to get out of here. Right now!"

I check the ignition and then the glove compartment before saying, "We don't have a key. I'll need to hotwire it. Tell me how to do it, Carl."

"Not enough time," he says back, sounding a little impatient. "Jacob Black has just found out that you two are missing."

At that exact moment, a sound of a loud crash comes from somewhere within the house.

"He just threw a table out of the window. He seems pretty angry, doesn't he?"

Bella cannot seem to be able to restrain herself as she snaps at him. "You think? Tell us what to do, Sherlock!"

"I am going to ignore that as you do seem tensed, Isabella." His voice does not sound amused.

Then without any preamble, the car engine roars to life. I try to figure out how this happened and can only come up with one explanation—Carlisle.

"I thought you could not touch our civilization?" I ask to the phone.

"I decided to make an executive decision, Edward," Carlisle replies. "Now, you need to drive out of here immediately. Jacob Black is about to make a call to the gatehouse and if he does make it then no one will be allowed to get in or out of this house."

"Awesome!" Bella quips sarcastically from beside me.

Suddenly we hear the intercom system in the gatehouse start to ring.

I quickly pull the gear to drive mode and press my foot down on the accelerator. The car begins to move swiftly toward the main gate. Beside the gate, I see an armed guard open the door for us to pass. He even nods in greeting.

Thanking the tainted-glass of the vehicle, I start to maneuver the car out of the gate when I see another guard put down a telephone and rush toward us, looking quite menacing.

"Shit! He took the call. Edward, don't stop!" Bella cries out from beside me, and in a burst of adrenaline, I kick the accelerator and make the car almost fly by the guards.

I miss banging the car to the gate by barely an inch as I hear the gates close behind us and find myself on the street.

"Carlisle?" I call.

"Yes, Edward?"

"Are we going to be safe now?" As soon as the question leaves my lips, I know what his answer is going to be.

"I am afraid not, sorry," he says. "You need to keep moving. They will be coming after you now. So try to get lost in the crowds." And then the line goes silent.

"He really needs to work on his conversing skills," Bella says from beside me after a few moments of silent driving.

I allow a chuckle to escape and ask, "Where do you think we might find a crowd?"

"I might have an idea," she replies.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

**BPOV**

I have Edward park the car a few blocks away and then lead him inside the bar Alice had been begging me to check out with her for the last few months.

"_This_ is the crowd you had in mind?" Edward asks me, sounding incredulous.

I shrug. "Why not? I thought it will be pretty hard to notice us among the dim lights and all the sweaty dancing bodies."

He scrunches up his nose in a very adorable way in response to my words. "That sort of sounds gross."

I laugh, finally feeling like I am able to breath, and start pulling him toward the bar, hoping to get a drink.

However, before we can manage to take a few steps, I feel Edward's body stiffen beside me. "Edward? What is it?"

"Brody and three other guys just popped in," he replies, sounding tensed.

_That drink will have to wait then_, I think as I turn around to face to entrance to the bar.

"Where?"

He moves his head to the left to indicate where Jerkob's pawns are.

I grab his hand and tug him toward the opposite direction. I don't stop until we are beside a very comfy looking leather couch on the opposite end of the room.

I see Brody looking at the dance floor which tells me that he is searching for us, meaning they just came in to check whether or not we came here.

Instantly, my mind comes up with a plan to get away from them.

I drop my backpack on the unoccupied couch and then grab hold of Edward's shirt collars. "You need to take it off," I state before unzipping and taking off my jacket as well.

He looks startled, but does as he is instructed.

Once we're in out of the clothes the assholes have seen us in, I put the backpack on the floor beside us and pile the clothes on top of it.

Then, without hesitation, I shove Edward to the wall and stand as close to him as I can.

I hear a sharp intake of breath come from him and smile before grabbing the back of his head and putting my lips on his.

He goes completely still for a moment, and then he starts kissing me back.

One of his hands cups my face while the other one skims down my side to rest on my waist. I suck his lip into my mouth as he slips one leg in between mine, and I feel _him_ for the first time.

A sudden white-hot lust washes through me and I don't know if I am kissing him to keep the jerks from recognizing us, or because I am becoming addicted to his kisses.

Then he touches my tongue with his, and I cannot think straight anymore. I grab the hand he rests on my waist and push it downwards. He takes the hint, and I feel his hand on my ass.

I feel him getting harder and cannot help but tug on his hair with the hand that I have buried in his hair.

A soft moan leaves his mouth as he kisses the side of my neck, and suddenly, it's not enough for me anymore.

I raise one leg and wrap it around his hip. He must have realized what I am trying to do because the next moment, I feel both of his hands cupping my ass as he helps me to wrap my leg fully around him.

And then, he is right _there_, and I don't give a fuck if I am grinding shamelessly against this insanely sexy man who can be adorable even at difficult times in a very public place.

Eventually, our lips find each other again and that's when I hear it—Brody's disgusting voice leeringly saying, "Woof! Get a room!"

His voice comes from right behind us, and I hold my breath in trepidation.

He seems to wait for someone to join him before saying, "Cullen and Swan isn't here, you dickwad. This is just a hole-in-the-wall bar for people to dry hump in. We need to keep looking. With that fast beauty, they will be at the town border in no time."

I feel Edward go very still against me as he hears Brody say our names. That asshole's voice manages to break the spell we were in, and we just stand there, entwined, and with our faces hidden in each other's neck.

We wait for a few minutes, catching our breaths before moving our faces away from each other.

Edward looks behind me and whispers softly into my ear, "I think they left."

"Okay," I whisper back as I slide down his body.

Once both of my feet are on the ground, I look into his face and find a pained expression on his face. I put a hand on his cheek, and he tries to smile in response. "I guess you just assaulted me to avoid them?"

Shaking my head, I leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Nope. I also kind of wanted to kiss you again."

"Really?" This time his smile reaches his eyes, making them sparkle behind the glasses.

"Mmhmm. We need a place to crash the night. I'm pretty sure they will have people watching our houses, waiting for us to return," I start, hoping he wouldn't think of me as too forward.

"Do you think we should take Brody's suggestion and get a room?" he asks, a smirk playing on his lips.

"That might be a good idea."

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him, deliberately letting me feel his semi-erection this time. "I might not want to stop at a few kisses then."

In a bold move, I rub myself against him and respond, "Who says I will? Tonight, we can celebrate being free."

His eyes darken at my words and he leans down to grab our stuff from the floor. "Let's go then."

_Yes, tonight, we're definitely not stopping at a few kisses. We'll worry about Jerkob in the morning._

**A/N: Our Crazy Scienceward didn't want to be silent anymore. Did you like the peek into his mind?**

**So … thoughts? Good? Bad? Not yet a romance fic?**

**Hit me with them and leave a review, please?**

**The next flash of my flash-fic collection, Flashes of Bronze is now up. Check it out if you want! :D**

**The songs I listened to while writing this one: ****_Take it off_**** by Kesha and ****_Physical _****by Enrique Iglesias and Jenifer Lopez. If you haven't listened to them, I suggest you do while reading the last bit of this chapter. ;)**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	11. Chapter-11: Losing Control and Finding M

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL. **

**Chapter-11: Losing Control and Finding Myself**

**BPOV**

Edward and I wait for a few more minutes after Brody's departure before sneaking out of the bar. Once we're outside, Edward starts to walk toward the way where we left the Ferrari, but I stop him by grabbing his hand.

"What is it, Bella?" he asks, as his eyes look around to check for any sign of danger.

I shake my head and reply, "We cannot take the car, Edward. What if they find the car and catch us? We need to move and find a safe place."

"Where? Like you said, we can't go back to our places."

For a moment, I consider our options. It is fairly clear that Jacob Black has had me under surveillance since the night we had crossed paths. That means he might know about Alice. I couldn't pop in at her place so late at night.

Besides, judging by Edward's shy behavior, I am pretty sure he does not have many friends we can go visit late at night.

As I'm shooting off ideas, I remember the pay-by-the-hour motel Al and I had to go for a news story which is right around the corner. It is pretty much secluded. So there is slim to no chance that the Jerkob Team will even look for us there and if they do, there is plenty of ways to sneak out of there.

"I know a little place. It's not the best of accommodations, but it'll be safe for the night, I think," I say, giving his hand a slight tug.

He looks at me and asks quietly, "You're sure?"

"Pretty much."

Nodding, he entwines our hands. "All right then. Let's go." Wordlessly, he allows me to lead him.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

"It doesn't even have a name? It just says '24-hour motel'!" Edward exclaims eighteen minutes later as he stares at the signboard hanging outside the motel.

I laugh a little at his incredulous tone. "Some people are simple like that. C'mon, we should check in."

Together we walk up to the front desk, and I smile brightly at the teenage boy sitting at the desk.

He looks startled at my smile and greets us in a high-pitched voice. "Hi! Welcome. How may I help you?"

I keep the well-practiced smile on my face and say, "Yes, we need a room for the night."

His eyes go to Edward and mine joined hands and he holds out a registrar book and a key. "Just sign your names and I'll show you to your room."

Edward takes the pen the desk boy holds out and signs our names. In a perfect cursive handwriting he writes the names: Tony and Isa Masen.

I frown at the names. I knew that we would have to use fake names to avoid getting caught, but how the fuck did he come up with these names so fast?

The feeling of his fingers squeezing mine brings me out of my thoughts, and I file the questions away for when we are alone.

"Cool. Right this way, folks. I'll show you to your room," Desk Boy says, standing up from his seat and motions us to follow him.

We walk behind him in silence for a few minutes before he stops in front of a door that has a wooden number 18 hanging on it. "Here you are. If you need _anything_, just come up to the counter," he says, with a side-eyed glance at me.

_Right, kid, I'm not gonna go to you for a booty call if that's what you're hoping for_, I snort inwardly.

"No, thanks, we're good," Edward replies angrily from beside me as he lets go of my hand and wraps an arm around my waist instead.

Desk Boy shrugs in a dejected way and hands Edward the key to our room before walking away.

I wait till Edward unlocks the door and closes it behind us before turning around to face him. "Was that possessiveness I detected, Dr. Cullen?"

His cheeks brighten, and he lowers his eyes to the floor. "Sorry if I was out of the line. I just didn't like the way that guy was looking at you," he mutters.

I nudge his chin with my hand and meet his eyes. "Edward, he's just a kid. I'm not a cougar, you know? And it wasn't out of line. After the way I assaulted you at the bar, it is quite all right if you get all possessive over me. I kind of like it," I finish with a wink.

His bright green eyes look even brighter behind those sexy glasses at my words, and he leans forward, touching his forehead to mine. "I like you, Bella."

Eagerly, I lift up my face and whisper, "I like you too, Edward." And then we kiss—a soft kiss, one that tells me that this is not just some fluke we are going through … that what we have can be long-lasting.

When he breaks the kiss, I ask, "So, who exactly is Tony Masen?"

"What?" he stiffens in my arms at the sudden question.

"Earlier, at the registrar …" I explain. "You signed your name as Tony Masen. I know your middle name is Anthony; so the Tony part is clear to me, but who exactly is Masen?"

He remains quiet for a moment before asking in a soft voice, "Bella, do you trust me?"

I nod, and then he says, "Then please know that I would not do anything wrong. I'll tell you all about that name later, I promise."

Suddenly the air around us feels heavy and serious so I murmur a soft 'okay' before asking in a brighter tone, "Do you want to get cleaned up first? We only have one bathroom."

He sighs in relief. "Sure. I won't be long."

With a quick kiss to my temple, he walks toward the bathroom, leaving me to my thoughts for the moment as I wait for my turn.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

The moment I get out of the bathroom, I feel like something is different. Looking at the bed, where I left Edward before heading to shower, I find the spot empty.

A sickening feeling grips my heart as my mind goes through all the scenarios that might cause him to not be here.

_What if he's caught? Fuck! Did Brody find us already? How the hell am I going to find Edward now?_ I think, starting to panic.

As I stand there, in just my tank-top and jeans, I hear someone turning a key on the door lock of our room. Quickly, I grab the intercom handset, ready to fling it to the asswipe coming in.

The door opens slowly, and closing my eyes, I hurl the thing in my hand toward the door.

"Shit! What the hell, Bella?"

The sound of his voice makes me open my eyes, and I find a wide-eyed Edward standing at the door with a brown paper bag in his hand.

"Edward! Fuck! I'm sorry. I thought you were one of Jerkob's men. Did I hurt you?" I ask, rushing to him and checking his face for bruises.

He closes the door with his foot and smiles at me. "Nah, I have pretty good reflexes. I moved out of the way in time."

"Good," I reply before launching myself at him and hitting his chest with my fists repeatedly.

"Ouch! What are you doing?" he asks, restraining me with his hands and looking at me like I am a crazy person.

I shoot daggers at him. "Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea how worried I was when I got out of the shower and didn't find you here?"

He points at the bag he dropped when I attacked him and says, "I thought we could use some food. So I walked to a diner next door and got us a few sandwiches."

I try to rein in my irrational anger and ask stonily, "Did it even occur to you that you might get caught? What would I have done then, huh? I just found you."

Smiling softly at me, he takes my hand which sits limply on his chest and kisses the back of it. "I'm sorry, baby. I just didn't think you would be worried for me."

"Well, I did worry for you," I say petulantly while trying to hide the smile threatening to take over my angry façade at his sweet behavior.

He grabs the bag from the floor and then leads me to the only sitting area in the room—a loveseat—to sit down beside him.

When he hands me a sandwich, I kiss his cheek and say, "Thank you for taking care of me."

His only response is to smile.

For a few minutes, we eat in silence—not awkward silence, just a comfortable one. Then he takes a sip of his water and starts talking. "You asked me who Masen was. Well, Masen was my birthfather—Edward Masen, Sr. When I was born, I was named Edward Anthony Masen, Jr., but I changed it to Cullen the moment I could. I never wanted to have anything to do with that man."

"Your father?" I ask softly.

He nods, letting out a ragged breath. "He was a good enough man, I suppose, when I was a kid. But when I was nine, he lost a lot of money in his business and started drinking heavily. There were many nights I woke up hearing the sound of my mother's sobbing as he beat her. He had turned into a monster."

His usually smooth voice sounds hoarse as he recounts the horrible memories of his childhood. I don't say anything, allowing him to say what he felt like sharing with me.

"When I was eleven, he died," Edward continues, avoiding looking into my eyes. "He was drunk as he drove home from work and he crashed into another car coming from the opposite side. I think the moment I heard of his death, I felt relieved. Does that make me a bad person, Bella?"

I put my food down and take his hand in mine, pulling it to my lips just the way he did before. "No, Edward," I say softly. "It makes you human. It means you loved your mother so much that you preferred him dead than being alive and hurting her."

He looks at me then and gives me a grateful smile. "Thank you. I do have Carlisle now though."

His face brightens up as he talks about his stepfather. "Carlisle was my mother's best friend when she was a kid. He went to Italy to attend college when he heard about her engagement to my birthfather."

"Then how did he come back?" I ask, wanting to know more about his life.

"Carlisle had come back to Washington after becoming a doctor. When _he_ died, Carlisle was the one who came to take care of us. The next year, he asked me for my permission to marry my mom," he says with a smile in his voice.

I cannot help but smile at the thought of a doctor asking a twelve year old Edward for permission to marry his mother. "What did you say?"

This time, his smile is a genuine one as he replies, "I told him that if he promises to never make her cry, he can marry her, but I get to remain the number one man in her life."

I laugh at that cheeky response and ask, "And then?"

He shrugs. "And then, he married her, adopted me, and I changed my name to Edward Anthony Cullen as soon as I could. He hasn't allowed a drop of tear to come out of my mom's eyes, and I think he's the best thing that could have happened to her."

His words and the fact that he shared a bit of his life with me make me want to share some of mine with him as well. So taking a deep breath, I start talking.

**EPOV**

"I wasn't always like this, you know?" Bella's quiet words make me look at her questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

With a humorless laugh, she says, "This reckless girl that you're seeing right now. I wasn't always like that. I mean, I always had been a bit of a tomboy, but I wasn't so desperate to know the truth all the time."

Silently, I keep looking at her, waiting for her to continue, which she does.

"My dad, Charlie Swan, was the Chief of Police in the Seattle P.D. He was a very brave man. I loved seeing him dressed in his uniform every evening when he came home. Then one day, he didn't come back home. My mom and I kept waiting for him, when at the dawn the next day, an ambulance drove up to our home. Turned out, someone had murdered my father and left his body around the street corner while he was on duty."

I gasped. _Fuck! It must have been like hell for her._

She stays quiet for a bit and then says, "He is the reason I changed my major from Physics to Journalism in college. I seek out truths everyday so that no family gets to live with the question we always face—why did this happen?"

"Did you ever find out?" I ask, touching her knee.

She shakes her head. "No. Not yet, but I know that I will find the fucktard that did this to me … to my mom."

Instinctively I say, "If you need any help, I'm your man."

She gives me a soft smile and whispers, "Thanks."

Seeing this incredibly strong girl looking all sad and broken, tears at my heart and I wrap her up in my arms, hoping like hell I could take away her pain.

She lays her head on my shoulder and sighs. I drop a kiss on top of her head and say, "I don't think of you as a reckless girl, you know?"

"What do you think of me as?" she asks back.

I smile down at her. "I think you are the most beautiful, smartest, funniest and strongest girl I know."

She quirks an eyebrow at me. "Am I the _only_ girl you know, Edward?"

Shaking my head at her, I reprimand her softly, "Don't sell yourself short, Bella. I like you just the way you are."

Her cheeks redden slightly as she smiles back at me. "Thanks."

We remain like that for some time before Bella asks me out of the blue, "Hey did you see any payphones around here when you were out?"

"Umm …" I think for a moment. "I don't think so. Why?"

She slumps back against me. "I need to contact my best friend, Alice."

"I think I can help you with that," I say smugly as I pull out the all-purpose charger I got for her phone from the brown paper bag.

She lets out a squeak of delight and grabs it from my hand. She quickly gets her phone out of her pocket and hooks it in to the charger before turning to me. "Where did you get it?"

"I borrowed it from the old lady who owns the diner," I reply.

She smiles as she comes back to me and exclaims, "Thank you so much, Edward. I could kiss you right now!"

In a moment of bravado, I stand up and bring her flush to my body. "Who's stopping you?"

"No one," she says back before brushing her lips on mine. We kiss softly for a minute, and then I lick her bottom lip, savoring her taste. She opens her mouth to me as she threads her fingers in my hair.

I let my hands fall lower and cup her ass in my hands as she tries to wrap her legs around me. For the first time in my life, I don't feel ashamed or embarrassed when I press myself against her. Instead, I feel the urge to join her in the most intimate way.

A moan escapes me as her fingers slip under the hem of my T-shirt and runs over my chest. The next thing I know, she's tugging the shirt up and over my head before throwing it down on the floor.

"Bella …" I start, trying to stop her when she starts kissing my chest any and everywhere her lips can reach. A shudder runs through me when I feel her hands on the waistband of my jeans.

Slowly, I trace the line where her tank top meets her skin, and she looks up at me with blazing eyes. Without taking her eyes off of mine, she grabs the hem of her top and pulls it over her head, making my eyes pop wide open in surprise.

The sight of Bella standing before me in just her jeans is the sexiest sight in the world. I don't let my eyes trail below her neckline as I ask in a hoarse voice, "Bella? What are you doing?"

She raises her eyebrows at me and asks, "I believe I'm getting ready to have sex with a very sexy scientist who has promised to take me to a dinner once this shit with aliens is over."

Even in the half-naked state, I cannot help but chuckle at her words. "Are you sure you want this?"

She looks hesitant for a moment as she asks, "Don't you?"

"Yeah … Can we? I mean we can, right? Fuck! I'm hopeless," I blab, not knowing what the right answer should be.

A smile stretches over her lips as she walks up to me. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses the tip of my nose. "We can, Dr. Cullen."

Her smile encourages me and I finally let my eyes fall down to look at her perfect breasts and flat stomach. I feel myself getting harder at the sight and take a sharp breath when she stands close to me, making our chests brush.

"You're perfect," I whisper as I cup the back of her neck in one hand and kiss her passionately. Slowly, I let my other hand slip downward to her jeans and then I stop.

"Take them off," she says to me, and I do.

Once she is standing completely naked in front of me, she reaches for my jeans once again and this time, I let her take them and my boxers off.

I step out of my clothes and then before I know it, I find her pushing me to the bed right behind us.

I fall down at the bed with her on top of me. She gives me a smile as she kisses my adam's apple and brushes her hand over me.

With a groan, I grab her hips in both hands and roll us over until our positions are reversed and I am the one hovering over her. As I kiss her, I cup her breasts in my hands.

Bella lets out a soft moan at the touch as her back arches off the bed. "Fuck, Edward! I want you."

The sound of her voice goes straight to my groin and I duck my head to take one of her nipples in my mouth. Sucking it in my mouth, I groan, "You're so sexy, Bella. I want you too … so much."

"Then take me," she whimpers as she takes me in her hand and brings me to the apex of her thighs. The heat and softness of her makes me feel like I can explode right that second, but I hold off.

As we grind against each other suddenly I realize something. With panicked eyes, I look at her. "Bella, baby, we can't."

A small frown appears between her eyes as she stills beneath me. "Why?"

"I don't … I don't have a condom," I mutter helplessly.

Her frown disappears and she smiles. "I'm clean and on the shot."

I feel the tips of my ears getting warm as I mumble, "I'm clean too. I haven't had sex since I came back to the states, and I had a full check up done before leaving CERN."

"Good to know," she says, and with a wink, starts to inch me into her.

Finally, I take over from her and thrust myself into her slowly, trying not to hurt her.

Once we're joined, I remain motionless for a moment, allowing her to get used to me. When she wriggles underneath me, I start moving in and out of her.

"You're beautiful, baby," I whisper when she kisses my shoulder.

When she wraps her legs around me, she whimpers, "You feel so good, Edward."

Slowly, we let the passion build and when we can't hold on anymore, we both jump off the cliff … together, holding on to each other tightly.

When we have regained our breathing, I move, separating us and then pull Bella to my chest. She lets out a contented sigh and places a kiss on my chest … right over my heart.

Just before falling asleep, I think I hear her say, "Who knew my crazy science guy would turn out to be Prince Charming?"

**BPOV**

In the morning, I wake up at the feeling of a warm body pressed against mine. I open my eyes and find myself looking at the adorable face of Edward Cullen—my crazy science guy.

I reach out and brush the hair off of his forehead as I remember the way he had loved me the night before. Yes, although it might be just sex for him, but to me, we made love.

I know it because all the times I have had sex, I never felt so emotionally connected to the person like I did with Edward. It was like he has wriggled his way into my heart.

That crazy thought made me smile. Last night, just before falling asleep, I had realized something. I had realized that I was falling for crazy science guy. The way he talked about his parents, the way he looked at me like I'm the most beautiful girl in the world, the way held me when I told him about my dad and the way he loved me in bed make me realize that he might be my Prince Charming.

"Morning, beautiful girl," his sleepy voice brings me out of my reverie and I find those beautiful green eyes looking at me.

"Mmm …" I hum. "I'm back to beautiful girl today?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, looking confused.

Biting my lip, to hide my smile, I reply, "You called me _baby_ last night." Then as an afterthought, I add, "I liked that."

He smiles shyly at me and runs his hand up and down my side, brushing the side of my breast and stopping at my hip. "How are you feeling, baby?"

I smile at the sweet way he calls me baby and reply, "I'm _perfect_, just like you said I was last night."

He takes hold of my hips and makes me lie over him as he says, "Let's test that theory, shall we?" And then, he is slipping inside me again, making me forget the outside world where jerks like Jacob Black and his cronies are looking for us.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Once we're showered and dressed, I switch on my now fully charged phone and call Alice. It only rings once before my eardrums explode.

"Bell, what the fuck? Where have you been? You haven't been home in days and Reneé and I are worried sick." Alice's angry shriek makes me grin.

"Hiya', Al. How's the flu?"

"Don't you dare, young lady!" she thunders over the phone. "Do you have any idea what I've been through? You call and tell me about the science guy being kidnapped and then disappear without a trace. Your Harley is found at the impound. And then Reneé gets a call as your in case of emergency contact, saying that you've been spotted collapsing in the middle of the road by a Sea News reporter. How the fuck you think we are?"

When she shuts up to take a breath, I start talking. "I'm sorry, Al. The kidnappers got to me too. They drugged me … that's why I collapsed. But on the bright side, I found Edward and we're both safe … for now."

"Wait, you were kidnapped?" Alice's voice rises up a notch.

"Sheesh, cut out the shrieking, Short Round. Yes, I was, but we managed to escape. Now tell me, where's my mom?"

"Reneé is at my place. I checked out the Jacob guy you told me about the last time. He seemed pretty shady so when you pulled a Houdini on me, I thought it will be best to have Reneé with me since I have security guards at the apartment building."

Her words make me calm down a little. "Thanks, Al."

She pshshaws at that and says, "She may have given birth to you, but she's like my mom too, B. Now where the fuck are you? Can I come to see that you really are alive?"

"Yes, please," I reply with a smile. "I'm at the place where we went for the report on stolen gold bars, remember that one?" I try to tell her without actually giving up the address in case someone has tapped into the line and is listening in on the call.

"Gotcha'!" she says. "See you in a few hours then. I'll bring food and clothes. And, B?"

"What?"

"I'm so freaking happy that you're alive!" Before I can respond, she disconnects the call.

"What's that smile for?" I feel Edward wrap his arms around my torso from the back as he kisses the side of my neck.

Grinning, I turn to face him and kiss his lips. "Prepare to meet my best friend, Hurricane Alice."

**A/N: *fans self* So ... thoughts? Good? Bad? Boring?**

**Hit me with them and leave a review, please?**

**I know we missed Carlisle in this one, but he'll be back in the next one. ;)**

**With a sad note, I have to tell you that there will be no updates this coming Friday. I have my midterms approaching and I have to study. Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter out by the Friday after next.**

**Meanwhile, keep an eye out for my Halloween one-shot which will be posted soon. ;)**

**If you're into The Vampire Diaries, try out my TVD one-shot, A Beauty for A Beast for some Halloween fun. :D**

**The song rec for this chapter: If I Lose Myself Tonight by One Republic. If you haven't listened to it, go and do so ... NOW!**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	12. Chapter-12: The One That Got Away

**Disclaimer: Nope, nothing except Carlisle the friendly E.T. belongs to me. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-12: The One That Got Away**

**EPOV**

As I sit on the couch in our hotel room with Bella by my side, I cannot stop my fingers from running through my hair in worry.

After what feels like the hundredth time, I feel Bella grab hold of my hand and pull it away from my hair. When I look at her in confusion she rolls her eyes at me. "Edward, she's not going to want to meet my bald potential boyfriend, you know?"

"What?"

She laughs at my expression and nudges my shoulder with hers. Then she says, "The way you have been tugging on your hair is making me worry that you'll be bald by the time Alice gets here."

I pull a face, knowing she is right about my awkward habit. As I try to calm myself down, her words keep playing in my mind and I turn to her with a wide smile on my face. "Did you just call me your potential boyfriend?"

She laughs softly, and I see her cheeks turn pink as she snuggles her face in the crook of my neck and says, "That's the plan, Dr. Cullen."

I smile at her words and reply, "I like your plan very much, Miss Swan."

When she lifts her face from my neck, I notice a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Shall I help you relax?" she asks, looking at me from beneath her eyelashes.

Before I can do anything more than nod, she throws one of her legs across my lap and straddles me, making me very aware of her body against mine.

She wraps her arms around my neck and brings her lips close to mine, letting them brush against mine, but not really kissing me.

Instinctively, I hold on to her hips to help steady her against me. I run my nose along hers and say softly, "This feels opposite of relaxing, baby."

She smiles at me when I call her 'baby' and finally kisses me. I bring one of my hands up to weave my fingers through her silky smooth hair and kiss her back, never wanting this moment to end.

When we separate our lips, she kisses my jaw and then says teasingly, "I figured I would get a _rise_ out of you before helping you relax."

Her innuendo makes me groan as I again take her lips with mine in a heated kiss. When my hands reach the hem of her tank top, she lets out a moan, giving me the silent go ahead to kiss her like I have wanted to do since our first kiss.

After quickly pulling her tank top over her head, I let my lips move down her collarbone and then to the tops of her breasts. She sighs at the sensation of my breath against her skin, and I see her nipples pebble.

When I suck one of her nipples in my mouth, she cradles my head against her chest and groans lightly. "Fuck! I swear, when we're out of this mess, I'm gonna have your mouth insured."

Her words make me chuckle, sending vibrations against her skin and making her arch her back. Not removing my mouth from her body, I move my hand to touch her through her jeans.

She gasps and moves against my hand.

Just as I am wondering whether I should carry her over to the bed or just remove our clothes and have her right then and there, a knock sounds on the door.

"Shit!" I cuss out loud at the interruption.

Bella listens as three soft knocks come again followed by one sharp rap on the door. She smiles at me and whispers, "Sorry, baby, but that's Alice."

I kiss her once more before helping her get up from my lap, and as she puts on her top once more, I try to inconspicuously shift myself in my jeans.

Of course she catches me and smirks. "We will pick this up later, I promise."

Shaking my head at just when _later_ would be, I follow her to the door as she twists the doorknob to open it.

**BPOV**

As soon as I open the door, I find myself being squeezed to the point of choking, and then I am punched hard on the arm.

"You loco, Bell? Why on earth would you go and get yourself kidnapped? Do you know how worried I have been? How would you feel if someone called _you_ to tell you that _I_ was missing? Huh? Tell me!"

I carefully extract myself from her hitting range and close the door before turning to see my best friend shooting glares at me.

I smile at her and hug her then, knowing she will not be able to stay mad at me to save her life. "I'm so sorry, Al," I whisper to her. "Forgive me?"

She grunts in an unknowledgeable way, but I feel her wrap her arms around me to hug me again—minus the chokehold from when she came in first.

When I am sure she has calmed down a little bit, I let go of her and reach for my crazy scientist. I find Edward standing a bit awkwardly in the corner of the room as if he is unsure of what to do.

I immediately feel bad for not introducing him to Alice before she shrieked bloody murder at me and reach for him with an outstretched hand.

He looks at me questioningly and when he sees the encouraging smile on my face, he shuffles his feet toward us. Once his hand is in mine, I squeeze his hand lightly and then turn back to face Alice.

"Alice, may I introduce you to Dr. Edward Cullen?" I say politely and turn to Edward. "Edward, this is my best friend, Alice."

He nods at her and opens his mouth to speak. "It's nice to meet you …"

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Alice's screech makes me quickly slap one hand on her face. When I feel her try to speak against my palm, I eye her cautiously. "You need to tone down your voice, Short Round."

I wait for her to nod before removing my hand from her face, and her face immediately breaks into a toothy grin.

"You had sex with Crazy Science Guy!" she states gleefully.

I feel my cheeks heat up and the sudden coughing fit Edward starts to experience tells me that he is embarrassed as well.

"What are you talking about, Alice?" I ask through gritted teeth, telling her with my eyes to shut the fuck up.

Of course that only makes her grin even wider. "Let me see …" she says, tapping her chin in a faux thoughtful manner. "You called him by his first name, you reached out to hold hands with him, you're not wearing a bra when you're with this stranger, and when I was shouting at you, he looked like he wanted to grab you away from the line of fire. That tells me you guys are _not_ strangers anymore."

I scowl at her and open my mouth to tell her just because we're not strangers doesn't mean we've had sex, but she beats me to it. "And when he stepped closer, I realized that you totally smell like him."

Knowing that it is fruitless to try to decline this crazy bitch, I shrug and then boldly wrap and arm around Edward's torso—to let him know that I am not going to hide what we have.

"Fine, Alice," I say. "You're right. Edward and I are more than strangers or even good friends. I like him."

"And I like Bella … a lot," Edward blurts out from beside me as he wraps an arm around my shoulders.

Alice's answering smile is bright as she lets out a mini whoop and runs over to pull us both in a group hug. "I cannot believe my truth junkie B likes a boy! You're so cute together."

I roll my eyes at her enthusiasm, but do not protest. What's the point in that anyway?

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Once we're all settled in and munching on the burgers and sandwiches Alice brought for us, I ask her the most important question. "Hey, Al? Does anyone know you're here or you've found us?"

She shakes her head and gulps down her mouthful of water before answering. "Nah, Bell. I'm not that dumb. I only told Reneé to not to worry about you and that Uncle Mike has sent you on a secret assignment."

"How did she take it?" Even as I ask the question, I already know the answer.

She arches an eyebrow at me as if to ask, _how do you think? _And then she says, "She cursed the fuck out of Uncle M, called you a stupid careless ass for not letting her know before taking this wretched assignment, called me the good egg and then lamented about how you're gonna die an old maid if you keep on doing this." She smirks at the handsome man sitting beside me and adds, "Although I see the last one might not be the case after all."

I snort as I listen to her. "Yeah, that sounds like my mother, all right." Edward chuckles softly from beside me, making me grin at him.

"What did you tell Uncle Mike?" I ask Alice. "He'll freak when she calls him up and starts cussing."

Alice rolls her eyes at me. "You think she hasn't done that already? I told Uncle M that you're fine, but need to keep a low profile for the next few days to avoid a crazy ex."

"He bought that?" I ask, scrunching up my nose.

"Of course he did," Alice replies with her head held high. "I can be a very persuasive liar."

I smile at my best friend. "That you are, Al. Thank you."

After being quiet this whole time, Edward finally asks a question, "I thought Uncle Mike was your editor? He's a good guy, right? Then why do you need to lie to him?"

"Work rule," I say with a smile. "When you're working, no one except your partner needs to know exactly what you're after—not even your boss."

His eyebrows pull together. "Who makes these rules?"

With a wink at me, Alice responds. "We do, of course."

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Once we're done eating and catching up on what we've been through these past few days, Alice pulls me aside to speak. "Bell? Is he good to you?" she asks in a small voice.

"Yeah, Al," I reply with a smile. "He really is amazing. He might be a little crazy, a bit awkward and even a little shy, but he makes me smile. He makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. He makes me feel like … like I'm perfect just the way I am."

She smiles at me then. "Good. Then I won't need to bash his pretty head in."

I continue to laugh at the mental image of my barely five feet best friend bashing the head of my more than six feet tall potential boyfriend when she leads me back to where Edward sits nervously for us to return.

Alice looks Edward from head to toe and then says seriously, "You need a makeover."

"What?" we both ask at the same time.

"Relax, sheesh!" she murmurs as she picks up one of the numerous bags she brought with her. "You both need to look like anyone other than Edward Cullen and Bella Swan if you want to get back to that quarantined zone."

"How?" Edward asks.

She gives him a look that says '_Duh! What am I for?_' before reaching inside the bag and taking out multiple pieces of clothing. "I had to guess your size, Edward, but I think these will fit just fine."

She hands some clothes to him and then turns to me. "You'll need to let go of the leather, Bell." Without letting me speak another word, she grabs my hand and starts pushing me toward the bathroom with a few bags clutched in her hands.

"Cullen, I expect you to be fully clothed by the time I get your girl ready," she says over her shoulder before pushing me inside the bathroom.

_Holy hell! What the fuck is she up to now?_

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Twenty minutes later, when I exit the bathroom, I find my eyes ready to pop out of their sockets. If I thought Edward looked handsome before, he is nothing short of sex on a stick in the black leather jacket and black T-shirt underneath it.

He looks at me from across the room and walks toward me. When he is right in front of me, he places his hands on either sides of my hips and leans in to kiss me. "You look adorable," he whispers in my ear before placing a kiss right next to it.

I look down at the navy blue T-shirt and black and navy plaid shirt Alice brought for me and then smile up at him.

"All right, bananas-in-pajamas," Alice says from the other end of the room. "If you're done making out, we need to move our asses—if you want to get to the town border that is."

I shake my head at her name-calling and give her a mock salute. "Aye, aye, Shorty."

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

When we reach the wired area marked as QUARRANTINED, Alice finds a spot way far from the guard post, shuts her Porsche off and grabs the backpack sitting on the seat beside her.

From the backseat, I ask, "What's with the backpack?"

She grins at me and just says, "Supplies, B."

Knowing she won't say anything else, I look out the window to see the post-sunset sky. The way the hues of red left by the final rays of sunlight still illuminates the almost-night sky makes me feel how horrible people like Jacob Black are for trying to taking this from all the people of this planet.

A soft buzzing sound makes me look down at the cell phone that has remained silent since my chat with Alice this morning.

The 'unknown number' flashing across the screen suddenly pushes all the hatred for Jacob Black away for the moment, because while we have horrible humans like Jerkob, we also have awesome friendly aliens like Carlisle.

Pulling the phone out, I take the call. "Hello?"

"Isabella. I am glad to see you and Edward are still willing to help your species." His usual humorless greeting makes me grin.

"Well, hello to you too, sunshine," I reply. "What can I say? We have big hearts like that."

Judging by the sound of low chuckle beside me, I know that Edward has figured out who the caller is. When Alice turns to look at me questioningly, Edward murmurs "Friendly E.T." to her, making her smile widely.

From the other end of the phone, I hear Carlisle say, "Big hearts? I checked out your medical files, Isabella. Both you and Edward are perfectly healthy human beings."

I face-palm at his lack of human wit and reply, "That was just a figure of speech, Carlisle. We humans do love to use those from time to time."

"You are a strange race."

"You have no idea, buddy," I mumble under my breath before saying loudly, "Hey, I'm gonna put you on speaker. There's Edward with me and also my best friend, Alice."

The minute I slide my finger across the speaker button, Carlisle makes me wish I hadn't. "Oh, Isabella, I forgot to ask you. How was your night? From what I have read about your race, I know temperature is a big factor for your well-being. And it seemed like you were feeling cold last night, since Edward had to warm you up with his body heat."

My ears feel like they are ringing from embarrassment as soon as he says the words. Edward jumps from beside me and snatches the phone out of my hand. He switches off the speaker mode and hisses into the mouthpiece, "Carl, shut the fuck up. Were you looking in when we were … when … fuck!"

Taking a deep breath, he continues in a forced-calm voice, "Were you watching when I was trying to apply the … uh … the rules of thermodynamics on Bella?"

His soft spoken words make both Alice and me crack up, and I hide my face in his shoulder to stop the sound of my laughter.

Whatever Carlisle responds with makes him relax and he says quietly, "I swear, Carlisle, friendly E.T. or not, if you try to sneak a peek in ever again, I'll find a way to make you run butt-naked all through the Continental US. Now, say hi to Alice."

Edward's threat must have managed to get the point across to Carlisle because he greets Alice before going into his all-business-no-play mode.

"As you can see here, you have a hurdle to overcome before you can get to the people being held in quarantine."

"Are they really sick?" Alice asks.

"No, Ms. Brandon, they are not. They are being held here because they have seen what some of your people did not want them to see." His response makes us all exchange looks.

Edward frowns. "What have they seen?"

"One-eyed Grissom, the criminal Isabella has been looking for, is not the only one who has disappeared, Edward," Carlisle replies slowly.

We all gasp as the realization sinks in. "Shit! How many have been snatched by these maniacs?" I ask.

"For now, the count stands at fourteen." He waits for a beat before adding, "And not all of them were criminals either."

"Fucking Black! It's all his fault!" I curse the piece of shit of a man I have grown to hate with a passion.

"Calm down, B," Alice says from the front seat. "We'll get him. I promise."

Nodding at her, I ask Carlisle, "How do we get to the other side of the fence, Carlisle?"

In a thoughtful voice, he answers, "I suggest Dr. Cullen uses the circuit breaker Ms. Brandon brought with her to jam the electricity of the wire while you two keep a lookout for anyone else using the night vision goggles. When the electricity has been cut off, use the wire cutter in Ms. Brandon's knife set to create a space big enough for you to climb through."

"Whoa! Rewind and freeze!" I say quickly. "What circuit breaker or goggles and whatever shit you said? We don't have anything like that."

"Ms. Brandon?" Carlisle's voice makes Alice grin widely and she pats her backpack. "All in here, Indy."

"You have circuit breakers and night vision goggles in there?" Edward asks with wide eyes.

"Among other things," Alice replies with a wink at me. "I called in a favor with Banner after you called. He had this stuff lying around as gifts from his students."

"Banner? My college professor?" Edward asks, looking confused.

"Our professor," I tell him before looking at Alice. "What did you tell him you need these for?"

"For a play we're hosting for the holidays," she replies with a wide smile.

Carlisle seems to decide to break up our questioning session and says loudly, "It looks like you're all set for now. Get through the fence, ladies and gentleman, and I will see you on the other side of it."

"Bye, Carlisle …" Alice can barely finish the words before the call disconnects. I try to smile at her and say, "He needs to work a little on his socializing skills."

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

"You know what I realized after wearing these?" Alice asks me in a low whisper.

"What?"

"Just how many bugs are there in this place!"

I snort at her words and look at Edward as he tinkers with the circuit box.

As if he can feel my eyes on him, he lifts his eyes from his hands and smiles at me. "It's done."

I smile back and start to thank him when a voice from behind us says, "And so are you."

I hold my breath as we all turn around to find a man in U.S. Marine's uniform standing there with his gun pointed straight at us.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here?" he asks in a harsh voice.

In the muted green glow of the night vision, I can make out his face a little bit, and something about him seems oddly familiar.

"We … uh …" Edward tries to speak, inching his way close to me so that he stands between me and the guy with the gun.

As I keep wracking my brain to remember where I knew the guy from, I hear Alice call out in a broken whisper, "Jasper?"

_Oh fuck!_

The moment I realize who the man before us is, I pull back my arm, close my eyes and punch his jaw with all my might.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffy! I know I'm mean, but I wanted to know your theories on this one before I reveal the next chapter.**

**So ... thoughts? Hit me with them and leave a review, please?**

**Keep a lookout for ****_two_**** new oneshots from me this coming week though. That might slow down the angry mob at my door. :P**

**As many of you know, the TwiFic Fandom Awards are being hosted this year, and my fics have gotten a bunch of nominations in there. Even TPL has been nominated for Favorite Drop Everything Fic and Out of This World Fic. I would like to thank whoever nominated my craziness for this honor. Thank you. :***

**The song rec for this week: Finally Found You by Enrique Iglesias.**

**Until next week.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	13. Chapter-13: Where All Roads Converge

**Disclaimer: Twilight saga is not mine, however the amazing people reading my crazy stuff are my readers and I love them for it. :)**

**A/N: Without anymore ado, let's get reading, shall we?**

**Chapter-13: Where All Roads Converge**

**EPOV**

I watch with horrified eyes as Bella pulls her arm back like I've seen guys in wrestling matches do and punches the man in U.S. Marine's uniform.

I see the guy clasp the place of his jaw where she hit him and fall down on his ass—all the while giving Bella a dubious look.

She looks down at him and then at the fist she still had in mid-air. And then, she starts laughing.

"Bella? Baby?" I call her name softly before cautiously putting a hand on her shoulder. The sound of my voice makes her look up at me with wide eyes and then she hides her face on my chest.

Feeling beyond bewildered, I wrap the beautiful and slightly quirky girl in my arm and look to her best friend for answers.

A soft, affectionate smile graces Alice's lips as she looks at the girl in my arms. Then she looks down at the Marine and sighs before holding out a hand.

He tries to smile as he grabs her hand, but it looks more like a grimace than a smile. As he stands up, the sound of movement must make Bella turn and look at the man and shrug.

"You deserved it, Jasper," she says with a slight tilt of her head toward Alice and then looks at me. "Let's go sit in the car and give them a few moments to talk."

Still wondering what is happening here, I nod. But before I can usher her away from the man she just assaulted, Bella looks at Alice and says, "Al, any funny business and all you need to do is holler. I've got your back."

Alice smiles slightly at us and then looks at the man standing there looking like he wished the ground could open up and swallow him whole.

With one last narrow-eyed look in his way, Bella grasps my hand and leads me to the car. She opens the backseat door and tells me to get in first. I know a true gentleman should allow the lady to get in first, but as I remember the way she punched a man at least a foot taller than her, I don't protest.

Once I'm inside the car, she climbs in and sits down on my lap like it's the most natural thing in our world. And it is—maybe its not natural for most couples who haven't been to a date yet, but it is natural for us because I know that I am not gonna let this amazing girl get away from me.

Bella wraps an arm around my neck and places a kiss on my lips before asking, "Do you think of me as a crazy woman now, Edward?"

Her question makes me laugh a little. Holding her to me with my hands on the either sides of her hips, I reply, "Baby, the situation in which we met is so damn crazy that I'd be worried if you weren't a little crazy."

She looks down at my chest at my words and get worried that I may have hurt her feelings. So I take her chin in between my fingers and make her meet my eyes. When she does, I kiss her forehead and then whisper, "You are just the right kind of crazy for me, you know that, right, baby?"

The smile I get from her in response makes me feel like a fucking king for making her smile like that.

She tucks a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear and looks out of the window to see Alice and the Marine standing outside. She sighs and turns her face back to me.

Moving closer to me, she lays her head on my chest and starts talking. "The guy you see out there is Jasper Whitlock, Alice's ex-boyfriend."

I run my hand up and down her back, already figuring out that those two must have had a history, and wait for her to continue.

"He is older than us. They met on our sophomore year in high school. Jasper was a senior. The way they just … _clicked_ … the first day they met, I was so fucking sure that it was love at first sight for them," she stops to take a breath.

"Hell, Rosalie, Jasper's elder sister, and I even looked at bridesmaids dresses for ourselves when we went shopping for Alice's prom dress," she says with a sad smile on her face. "We all felt like he would propose to Alice as we got out of high school, and they will both chase a successful career … together."

I wait for her to continue, and when she remains silent, I ask softly, "What happened?"

"Jasper fell in love," she replies. "With our country. He was so dead-set on joining the Marines after he finished school. I remember Alice being supportive of him. She knew he loved her and she respected his love for his country. She had told me that she admired him for wanting to serve his country."

I frown, not understanding why that would make Bella punch the guy now. She must see my confusion on my face as she answers my unasked question. "Alice wanted to wait for Jasper to get his position in the Marines, but he had other ideas. On our prom night, the night most high school girls want to be the most memorable one, he broke up with her. He even had the nerve to prance around with some blonde bombshell from out of town before Alice that night. When she confronted him about it, he said he was not interested in her anymore."

Bella bites her lips in a way that tells me she is trying to hold back tears as she continues, "Alice was such a wreck that night. Instead of dancing till we drop like we had planned, I spent my prom night trying to calm down my sobbing best friend. It wasn't until our high school graduation that we ran into Rose at a store and learned the truth."

"What truth?"

She pulls a face and says, "Jasper had felt like he will be cheating Alice the chance to have a happy life with him because he will be gone all the time and so he brought one of his distant cousins to the prom to make Alice think that he was over her."

I think of what she is saying for a moment before saying, "I sort of understand his feelings. I think what he did, shows how much he cares for Alice."

Bella rolled her eyes at me. "I think it just shows how much of an idiot he was for not trusting her to love him even through all the distance. That was the time I promised Alice that I'd punch the ever loving shit out of him if I ever come face to face with Jasper again."

Her words make me chuckle, and I drop a kiss on the top of her head. "You're like my very personal Bruce Lee, baby."

"Damn right, I am!" she says with a grin. Then a look of seriousness comes over her face as she looks at me intently before whispering, "Edward, will you promise me something?"

"What?"

Biting her lips, she replies, "I remember how hurt Alice was when she saw him with another girl. Promise me you won't do something like that to me."

Her words make me smile at her and ask her teasingly, "Are you asking me to be your exclusive potential boyfriend, Miss Swan?"

Her telltale blush is visible to be as she nods, smiling back at me. "Although I don't think we'll need the potential part for very long now, but yes, Dr. Cullen, that's what I'm asking you."

Her honesty sobers me up, and I take her face in my hands, pulling her to me for a kiss. With my lips, I tell her that I would love to be exclusive with her. Her responding kiss tells me that she feels the same way.

Once we're gasping for breath, I pull my lips away from her and put my forehead against her. "What is happening to us?" I ask, searching her face.

"Whatever it is, I don't want it to end," she whispers back, kissing the corner of my mouth.

And in that moment I realize that maybe … just maybe … I might find a love like the one my parents share … if I could have Isabella Swan in my life.

**BPOV**

When we feel like Alice and Jasper have been given enough time to talk this thing through, I climb out of the safety of Edward's arms and together, we get out of the car.

As we walk up to the couple standing awkwardly across each other, I see Alice blink rapidly and I know that she has been crying. Wordlessly, I go and place an arm around her shoulder.

She turns her face to me and the look on her face tells me that even though it hurts seeing him again, she is okay.

Jasper shuffles his feet like the awkward teenager I remembered from long ago and then offers me a timid smile. "Bella, I wish I could say it is nice to see you."

I give him a curt nod. "Likewise, Whitlock. But since you hurt my best friend, I cannot say the same."

"I'm sorry. So sorry …" he says, and although he talks to me, I feel his eyes stray toward Alice.

Al blows out a breath and then says quickly, "We don't have time for this shit, B. We gotta keep moving."

Jasper looks crestfallen as she completely ignores him, and in that moment, I can see that he still loves my friend. "Where are you going?" he asks.

"We need to get to the other side of the fence," Edward answers for us all. When Jasper casts a questioning glance at him, he holds out his hand. "Dr. Edward Cullen. I'm uhh …"

I realize he's wondering if he should tell Jasper about us. So I take his hand with my free one and smile at him. "Edward's with me," I say.

Jasper smiles at me and says, "Glad to see you have found someone, Bella." Then he shakes Edward's hand. "I'm Captain Jasper Whitlock of the U.S. Marine. Now, why do you need to get to the other side of the fence? Don't you know this area is a quarantine zone?"

I state carefully, not knowing if we should divulge more information or not. "Edward's code is being used inside the quarantine zone."

He scrunches up his eyebrows and asks Edward, "So you're an epidemiologist or virologist?"

Before Edward can say anything, Alice says, "No, he is a scientist. His code is about communicating with species in outerspace."

"It's about _what_?"

His question makes me want to take another swing at him, but I just answer him through gritted teeth, "It's about communicating with aliens, Jasper. What the fuck did you think you're fencing this area for? There is an alien species somewhere inside this area."

He looks at me like I've lost my mind. "No, we were told to fence this area to prevent the virus from spreading. It's Ebola."

"Have you seen any of the patients?" Edward asks him from beside me.

Jasper nods. "Yes, the first few I checked out myself, but then as the numbers increased, the guys in my unit have done that."

"Did the ones you checked out seem feverish? Did they complain of aches and chills? Did you see any of them bleed from their eyes?" Edward asks rapidly.

"No, why …?"

"Those are the symptoms of Ebola attack, Captain Whitlock. If you didn't find anyone with such symptoms, then maybe you're holding those people here for a reason even you don't know."

Jasper seems to think for a moment and then says, "Well, they all seemed to be a little out of it, to tell you the truth. I mean the first guy even hallucinated his student being killed by a shadowy figure."

Edward and I share a look at that, and finally, I tell Jasper, "If you take us to meet the quarantined people, we can prove you that they are not suffering from a disease; rather they just saw the alien in action."

"You think they are being wronged?"

"Yes," Alice answers this time.

For a long moment, Jasper just stands there, looking like he is either trying to shit bricks or is deep in thoughts.

When he opens his mouth to speak, there is a determination in his voice that tells me why he has been promoted to the rank of a captain so early in his life. "The day our founding fathers signed the declaration of independence, it was thought of as treachery, but without them, we would not be who we are today. If rules are made in a way that we need to break them in order to get to the light at the end of the tunnel, then we have no choice but to break such rules."

"So you will take us to the other side?" I ask him, just to be sure.

"Yes," he says. "I don't know who or what they are that are trying to cause my countrymen harm, but I swear if what you say is true, then none of those fucktards will escape justice."

He then proceeds to help Edward hide Alice's car behind the huge trees and bushes nearby and comes back to where Alice and I wait for them in silence. "We will need to take my jeep, I'm afraid. It gives us the all-clear to get inside the quarantine zone."

Silently, we all march to the army jeep he has parked a few feet away from where we had stopped our car. Just before getting inside, I grasp Edward's jacket lapels and yank him close to me.

"You were so fucking sexy when you disproved his theory about it being Ebola!" I exclaim softly.

With a crooked smile on his face, he leans in. "Ditto, baby. Now kiss me." I do as he asks and kiss him briefly, but passionately before getting inside the jeep.

_Crazy science guy is so sexy._

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Jasper doesn't take us to the hospital being used as the quarantine area right away. He first takes us to the marine camp where he and his people have been camping out in order to keep an eye on the quarantined patients.

He tells us to wait for a moment and slips inside a tent marked _'Captain.'_

As we stand there, I notice guys give us side glances as they pass. Maybe Edward catches their eyes as well because I feel him step closer to me and wrap an arm possessively around my waist.

I lean into his touch.

A guy, who might be about a year younger than me and Alice, rushes toward the tent the moment Jasper pokes his head out of it. "Captain, we need to talk. An urgent message came for you while you were out on patrol."

Jasper looks at the man sharply and then at us. He motions us to step inside the tent and says to the man, "Clearwater, come on in."

Clearwater gulps and casts a glance at us before saying hesitantly, "But sir, the message …"

"That's why I'm asking you to come inside, Officer Clearwater."

The commanding tone of Jasper's voice makes Alice look at him, and for a moment, I see that flicker of admiration back in her eyes. _She admires that he's standing up to his men just to get to the truth_, I realize.

Officer Clearwater does as he is asked to and gets inside the tent with us all. He mumbles, "Sir, the message is private. I can wait till your _guests_ leave."

Jasper looks pointed at his officer and says in a soft voice, "They'll be leaving with me, and I trust them. They are my friends. So go ahead, officer."

The man seems to be battling with himself before his shoulders slouch and he says in a resigned voice, "The message is that there are two escaped convicts we need to keep an eye out for—a brunette female and a male. Their descriptions …"

Jasper holds his hand up to silence his subordinate. "All right. As you can see, my _three_ friends and I need to get going, I would appreciate it if you could just send confirmation to the Commander's office of the reception of the message."

Clearwater looks like he wants to say something, but Jasper says testily, "Now will be good, Officer."

As the man hurries out of the tent, Jasper shakes his head. "Sorry for that. Seth is a good kid at heart, a good soldier, but rather inquisitive one."

"Being a good soldier doesn't necessarily mean a guy is good at heart," Alice snaps at him, making Jasper sigh in dejection.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

As we all follow Jasper inside the hospital building, I notice the way all the people keep glaring at us.

"Why are they looking at us like that?" Alice whispers to me.

Before I can answer, Jasper says, "If they indeed are being wrongly held in captivity here, then they have every right to glare at us … or rather, me."

Maybe his voice was louder than he intended because suddenly a big, burly man comes up to stand in front of us, blocking our path. "You, son of a bitch!" he spits the words at Jasper.

Jasper is taken aback by his sudden verbal assault. "Hey, you're the first guy …"

"Yeah, that's right." The muscled man straightens up his shoulders, towering over all of us as he says, "I was the first _monkey_ you got locked away in this zoo of yours. I thought you would help me."

He then looks at the rest of us and ask, "Where the fuck did this asshole catch you guys from? Did you tell him what you saw? Don't bother. All these guys are assholes. They won't believe you and just stick needles in you to silence you."

I look at him closely. Even behind the exhausted eyes and the slightly manic air about him, I could tell he was a good guy.

_He wouldn't be feeling so strongly about it if he wasn't an innocent victim_, I think.

"Hi, I'm Bella. I'm a journalist," I say to him and hold out a hand for him to shake.

He looks at my hand with narrowed eyes and asks, "You're not afraid to catch the virus from me?"

Smiling at him, I shake my head. "No, I don't. None of us think you're infected at all." I point toward Edward and Alice and continue, "This is Dr. Edward Cullen, a scientist, and this is my photo journalist, Alice Brandon."

He still looks suspiciously at us. "A scientist? For what?"

Edward steps up beside me. "I specialize in extraterrestrial communication."

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, the Big Guy starts shaking his fist at Jasper. "See? I told you people that there was something out worldly happening here. But who would listen to an Ebola patient?"

"We would," I say him, still holding out my hand.

He finally shakes my hand and says in a gruff voice, "I'm Emmett McCarty, a high school teacher."

Jasper clears his throat. "I'm sorry for detaining you guys due to a misconception. We would like to hear what you've seen. Will you please share your experiences with us?"

Emmett sighs. "If you want to hear our experiences, we need to gather all the people here. You need to listen to Rosie's story."

"Rosie?" I ask, wondering why this particular woman's story was different from the others.

"Yes," Emmett replies. "She's in a bad shape. I'll take you to her. Follow me."

We do as he asks and walk behind him as he leads us to the other parts of the hospital. When someone gives us glares, Emmett shuts them up, telling them that we were here to help them.

He takes us to a hospital room where in a single bed lies a blonde woman with her back to us. "Rosie?" Emmett calls her softly. The tenderness in his voice makes me feel like he cares for this woman a lot.

"Em?" a shaky voice answers as the woman turns to face us.

The moment I see her face, I hear twin gasps of shock escape mine and Alice's mouths. I feel Jasper brush past us and drop beside the woman lying in bed. "Rosalie!" he calls in a horrified tone.

_Fuck! This shit is getting too deep now._

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffy. But I felt like this is where the chapter needs to end. Since it's a turning point of sorts.**

**If you haven't checked them out already, check out my new one-shots, ****_Just A Kiss Away_**** and ****_Stay In My Heart_****.**

**In another news, Over the Counter is still in the running for the Battle for Dominance fic and yours truly is also hanging on for the Newbie Author in the TwiFic Fandom Awards. The second round of voting closes tomorrow. So if you haven't voted for your favorite yet, go and vote now!**

**Here's the link to the blog: twificfandomawards . blogspot p / vote . html (Remove all the spaces)**

**The song I listened to for this chapter is ****_Right Now Na Na Na_**** by ****_Akon_****.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	14. Chapter-14: A Light In The Darkness

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-14: A Light In The Darkness**

**BPOV**

I feel Edward place a soft kiss on cheek as he surreptitiously wipes away a tear drop from my cheek. I cannot make my lips move to thank him though. I only squeeze his hand tighter as we all hear my old friend, Rosalie, tell her story.

"Jasper, they took Leo." Those are the words she manages to say the moment she sees Jasper before bursting into tears.

"Rose, please, tell me what happened. Who took Leo?" The desperation in Jasper's voice makes me realize that whoever this Leo person was, he must be very important to them.

"Who's Leo?" Alice asks from my side.

Emmett, who looks confused by the reunion taking place before us, replies, "Leo is Rosie's son. Do you guys know Rosie?"

I nod in response. "Yeah, we used to be friends in high school, but lost contact with time," I say for both Emmett's and Edward's benefit. "Rose is Jasper's twin sister."

Emmett sighs and walks back to Rosalie. He places a hand on her head and says in a gentle manner, "Rosie, they are all your friends. You need to tell them about Leo. They can help."

His words make Rosalie take a heaving breath as she starts to speak. "I don't know what they were, but I know that they took my baby boy. I saw it with my own eyes."

She looks at Jasper and continues, "It was the day after you left, Jazz. I was out in the backyard, reading a book with Leo strapped in his stroller beside me. He was such a happy baby!"

The memories of her son make her let out another sob, and I walk up to her, hoping to be able to calm her down enough to get the truth.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, I say, "Rose, hey, tell me who took your kid and we will get him back."

"Bella?" she asks as she looks at my face closely, and when I nod, she throws her arms around me.

"Shh … tell me, Rose," I implore her again.

Slowly, she calms down enough to tell us her story. "I was about to take Leo inside to feed him when I heard a noise behind me. At first, I thought it was the neighbor's dog, trying to get into our house. However, when I turned around to look at it, I found a dark figure standing there."

"What did it look like?" Edward's question makes us all look at him.

"Like a demon," Rosalie replies in a disgusted voice. "There was some kind of tentacles coming out of its head and its eyes …"

"What about the eyes?"

"They were red … like it was a vampire or something. I don't know …" She stops and shakes her head, as if trying to clear the horrible vision from her mind.

Softly, I ask her, "What happened then, Rose?"

"I … I don't know what made me do it—basic instinct, I suppose—but the moment I saw that figure in there, I unstrapped my baby and tried to scoop him up in my arms. But before I could do so, I felt someone stand before me. I looked up and saw another figure standing in front of me, looking directly at my son."

She stops to take a breath and then says, "Before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded by five figures like that. They were all looking at Leo. I tried to grab him and make a run for the house, but the first figure raised its hand at me and I felt jolts of electricity go through my body."

She lets out a sob and covers her face with her hands. Immediately, Emmett rushes in to wrap his arms around her and starts whispering soft words to calm her down.

Jasper looks pleadingly at the man rocking his sister in his arms and asks in a hoarse voice, "Do you know what happened to my nephew?"

Emmett nods sadly. "Yeah. Those things made her lose her consciousness and took her kid right from her arms before taking off."

"Shit!" The sound of the curse makes us all look up, and we freeze. Because there, standing behind us all, is the man who tried to stop Jasper from bringing us here—a guy he had introduced as Seth Clearwater.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

We all stand there holding our breaths, hoping against hope that the guy didn't hear anything as he walks up to us.

He looks at Jasper and says, "Captain, I'm sorry. I came here thinking that you were harboring fugitives or something, but looks like you are doing the right thing."

When we all simply look at him in confusion, he gives Jasper a short salute. "I heard your sister's story, Sir. Officer Clearwater reporting for duty, Captain."

Finally Jasper cracks a smile and reaches out to shake hands with him. "Thank you, Seth. It's good to have you here, man."

Seth nods and then looks at Emmett. "Sorry I locked you up in here. I should have listened to what you were trying to say to me that day."

Emmett glares at him and says dryly, "Yeah, you should have. Too bad you didn't."

"Well, we all want to hear what you want to say, Emmett," Edward tells the angry man, patting him on the back. "We really want to help you … all of you."

"The figure I saw was just like the one Rosie described," Emmett starts. "I was about to be killed by a student I busted for selling weed that day. He—Paul, my student—confronted me when I returned home from my afternoon jog. I think he was going to kill me when the figure appeared behind him."

"Did it take Paul like it did with Leo?" Edward asks.

"No," Emmett replies. "What it did to Paul was just horrible. One minute Paul was there, waving a gun in my face and the next minute, a creature had crawled out of its head and jumped on Paul. It … it tore into his neck and got inside his body."

I gasp at that and then ask, "Then?"

"Then what? You think I waited around for it to get me?" Emmett says. "I ran like a bat out of hell and landed on this charming little place."

As we all listen intently to Emmett's recounting of the event, I notice the other people gather around us. They all look like they want to share their stories with us.

When Emmett stops talking, several of them try to talk. Edward holds up a hand and says in a loud voice, "Guys, calm down. Let me introduce ourselves to you and we'll listen to all of you, all right?"

As the murmurs die down, he holds his hand out to me, and I take it instinctively. He tugs on my hand and makes me stand beside him. Then he wraps an arm around my waist and addresses the crowd.

"I am Edward Cullen, a scientist working on extraterrestrial communication. This beautiful woman beside me is Isabella Swan, a journalist. The other girl is a photo journalist, Alice Brandon, and these two gentlemen," he stops and gestures toward Jasper and Seth. "They are members of the U.S. Marine Corp. We all believe that you're all being wrongly held here and we want to help you."

"Thank you for believing we are not crazy," a girl says as she steps through the crowd. "I'm Jessica Stanley. I run the local animal shelter."

"Nice to meet you, Jessica," I say with a smile. "Will you tell us what happened to you?"

She shrugs. "Pretty much what happened to most of us here. I had a boyfriend who was cheating behind my back. I found out about it and tried to confront him. He was having an affair with a coworker and since workplace relationships are prohibited in his organization, he tried to scare me into silence with a knife. The figure came and electrocuted him before doing the same it did with Emmett's student."

"It crawled inside your boyfriend as well?" I ask in shock.

"Yeah. He was a creeper, and then a creeper got inside him. That's circle of life, don't you think?" Her nonchalant words make me wonder if she is still in shock from watching that happen or not.

I feel Edward look closely at Jessica as he asks, "Did you also ran like Emmett? How did you escape?"

"I didn't," she says. "I sort of stood there with my mouth hanging open and the thing just turned around and left … with Percy in its tow."

Edward's eyes widen at her words. "Wait, your boyfriend went with the thing?"

"I dunno really," she grimaces. "I think Percy, my _ex_-boyfriend died after the thing tore through his neck. I saw him fall down on the street and scream in agony for what felt like hours. Then suddenly, he quieted down and stood up. When I looked at him, I saw his eyes flash bright red just like the other one's. His head was starting to swell and he just drunkenly walked toward the way the first creature had walked off to."

"He joined the first creature," Edward mutters softly before looking around. "Did the attacks you all see happen in the same way?" he asks the rest of the crowd.

"Well, no. Not every one of us had boyfriends you know," a guy says with an eye roll.

"No, no," Edward says, shaking his head. "What I'm asking is if all the people you saw being attacked were taken toward the attacker."

Murmurs of affirmatives come from the people around us, and when I look at Edward, I see him rake a hand through his hair.

"Hey," I say, taking his free hand in mine. "What is it, baby?"

He lets out a harsh breath and says, "They're alien hosting."

"What?"

Emmett's words make us both turn and look at the confused expression on his face.

"The process of taking over the bodies of the habitants of a planet after killing them," Edward explains. "It's called Alien Hosting. And if this continues in this rate, they might as well take over our earth after some time."

"Hold on!" Alice says from behind us. "Don't you all see a pattern here?"

She waits for any one of us to answer her and when no one does, she continues, "These aliens are only taking control of bodies of the criminal types. Laurent Grissom, James Maddison, Emmett's student, Percy-what's-his-face … they all have one thing in common—they were all bad guys. Maybe these things are only going for the criminals."

"Then why did they take my Leo?" Rosalie snaps at Alice. "Are you trying to imply my three months old baby boy was devil reincarnated, Alice?"

Alice flushes bright red and quickly tries to soothe Rosalie. "No, Rose, of course not. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking …" She hugs Rosalie cautiously and lets our old friend cry on her shoulder.

As I stand beside Edward and look in on the scene before us, I feel my heart breaking for Rosalie. After her husband's death, she was about to lose her only child as well.

"She has got a point, you know?" Edward whispers to me.

"What?" I ask, scrunching up my eyebrows in confusion.

"Alice. She's right. All the bad guys they took, they killed them before taking, but the baby—they didn't kill him. They just kidnapped him."

"Why do you think that is?"

He looks in my eyes and says in a troubled voice, "I don't know, baby. I don't know."

**EPOV**

As I lie there, in the uncomfortable as hell hospital bed, I feel how my life is changing. If someone told me a few weeks ago that I would be here, waiting for dawn to get into the fight for the survival of earth, I would have laughed my ass off at them. But today, that is exactly what I was doing.

A soft creaking sound makes me look away from the window where I could see a sliver of the night sky, and I see the door slowly open to the hospital cabin I was trying to get some sleep in.

"Edward?" I hear my Bella's sweet voice ask from the doorway.

Lifting my head, I look at her. "Hey, baby, can't sleep?"

She shakes her head and walks into the room before closing the door softly behind her. "Alice dozed off the minute her head touched the pillow, and I just … I wanted to be with you."

Her words make me smile, and I hold out a hand to her. "Come here, beautiful girl."

She smiles back at me as she walks up to me, and when I hold the end of the blanket up, she slides into the bed beside me. "Sorry this bed is uncomfortable at a stiff board," I tell her.

"What are you talking about? I love this bed and my personal pillow," she says back as she lays her head on my chest.

Wrapping my arm around her, I run my hand up and down her back. She lets out a soft humming sound and lifts her head to find my lips with hers.

At first, I kiss her softly, adoringly, but the moment she licks my lip, I give in to the urge I always feel around her and kiss her passionately, bringing her closer to me.

"Edward," she whimpers against my mouth.

"What, baby?"

My gasping response makes her pull her head back just a little and look right into my eyes. "I wanted to do this after all this fucked up situation got straightened up, but seeing Rose like that today made me realize that I need to take the moment instead of waiting for it to come to me."

I bring one hand up to run it along her cheekbone and ask, "What are you talking about, Bella?"

Taking a deep breath, she weaves her fingers in my hair and asks me, "Edward, I know what we've been through this few days has been hell, but it's also the most _alive_ I've felt in a long time. I would have chalked it up to the adrenaline junkie in me, but I _can't_. Because, I feel it in my heart that it's all because of you. You're the one who has made me feel like this. So …"

She stops, making my heart stop in the process. And then she continues, making my heart swell with a feeling I had yet to name … for her. "Edward Cullen, will you be my boyfriend?"

I stay completely still for a moment before swooping in and kissing her hard. "I'll take that as a yes, then," she whispers against my mouth.

"So, I'm your exclusive boyfriend now?" I ask cheekily.

"Yep, all mine," she says with a grin as she moves to sit up and straddle me.

I watch in awe as she whips up her blue T-shirt over her head and drops it on the ground. As she leans down to take off my shirt, I cannot help but sit up a little and take one of her nipples in my mouth.

"Fuck, baby! That feels good," she hisses as she somehow gets my shirt off of me. Knowing what we both needed, I sit up completely and help her with getting our pants off. When we're both open to each other, I slide back down to lie on my back and watch her as she rubs herself on me.

This time, I groan when I feel just how wet she is for me. Dragging my hands over her thighs, I move them toward her breasts and cup one in each hand. As I run my thumbs over her already hardened nipples, she arches her back, leaning into my touch even more.

When I cannot stand being apart from her anymore, I glide my hand downs her back and rest them on the either sides of her hips.

She must either see the hazy look on my face or realize that I am about to blow my load without even getting inside her. Whatever the reason, she moves before lowering herself on me slowly, allowing me to savor the feeling of being with her.

As she starts to move, I move with her—creating a rhythm that is purely us. When I reach down and touch where we're connected, she kisses me hard, trying to drown out her screams as passion takes over her.

I try to silence my own groan of release in her hair as I join her. When I can breathe again, I tell her, "When all this shit is over, I'm gonna love you so good that you won't be able to silence your sounds of pleasure, baby."

She gives me a bright smile and kisses me once again. "Who says I'll want to be silent when I am finally alone with my man?"

I grin in the darkness because I like her words … a lot. If being her man is what I am going to get after fighting off the aliens, I looked forward to it.

"I'll just have to save the world to get alone time with my girl then," I tell her with a wink, making her giggle.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

Around 3 a.m. I hear a soft buzzing sound come from the table beside the bed where Bella had left her cell phone. I check to see if she is still sleeping and then carefully, answer the call.

"Carl?"

"Are you done with the thermodynamics?" The irritated voice from the other side of the phone makes the tops of my ears heat up.

I quickly try to cover Bella as much as I can with the bed sheets and then answer, "Yeah. Why? Were you spying on us again?"

"No. I know a lot more about thermodynamics than you do. No offense," he says in a bored voice.

I roll my eyes at his bragging and reply, "Good for you."

"I thought I would give you a head's up. Jacob Black is about to make a move … a big one. And this might be the chance for you to get the upper hand," he says quickly. "And you need to look out for Bella."

"What? Why?" I ask, panic gripping me at the thought of Bella being in any kind of danger.

"It will be an emotionally challenging day for her and for all of you really."

"What can I do to help her?" I ask again.

"Just be the man who you are. She needs the support you provide her more than she knows it." Before I can say anything else, he continues, "I will contact you tomorrow." And then in true Carlisle, the friendly E.T., fashion he hangs up.

As I lay back down, Bella snuggles into my arms, letting out a humming sound when I hug her to my chest. And in that moment, I realize that no matter what I had to face, I will do anything to protect the woman in my arms because she is everything I need.

**JerkPOV**

I slam down the bottle of whiskey on the table in front of me and turn to look at the asshat I call my right-hand man.

"What did you just say, Brody?"

Brody, the asshat, gulps and mumbles, "We lost Cullen and Swan. I sent out search parties for them but we couldn't find them."

Letting out a breath, I try to calm myself down. "How long has it been since they made a run for it?"

He looks down at his feet and replies, "About two days now, boss."

"Did you find any _unusual_ news in any of the media?" I ask.

"No, sir," he reports quickly. "I have my guys watching every news channel and newspaper and even online news blogs. So far nothing."

I nod as I take another swig of the alcohol, feeling it burn my throat as it goes. "We don't need to worry about the newspapers. I have people there. And if the other medias are silent as well, it means Cullen and his girl is in hiding."

"We can keep the search going …"

"No," I say and stop him with a wave of my hand. "Cullen always was a pussy. We'll make our move tomorrow. He and that bitch he has with him won't be able to do jack after tomorrow night. That is, if they survive at all …"

Taking a long pull from my drink, I reach for my cell phone. I have some call to make.

**A/N: Who wants to kick Jerkob's ass with me?**

**Anywho, thoughts?**

**Share them with me and leave a review. :)**

**The song rec for this chapter is ****_Riptide_**** by ****_Vance Joy_****. I felt it spoke of Edward's feelings quite well. :D**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Watch out for another new story from me—my first period fic—and one more ****_Over The Counter_**** Outtake in the coming week. ;)**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


	15. Chapter-15: Black Hearts and Misplaced T

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own a thing. :(**

**A/N:** **Thanks to every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read TPL.**

**Chapter-15: Black Hearts and Misplaced Trusts**

**BPOV**

For a few minutes, I watch as the sky begins to lighten. The red glow of the rising sun lightens up my heart with one thing I felt we all need at times like these—hope. I know that whatever is coming is pretty daunting, but I felt in my heart that whatever it is, it cannot take this beautiful world away.

I feel the arm around my waist tighten, and my heart glows with hope once more—this time brought on by the amazing man holding me. In the heart of my heart, I know that whatever comes, he will be right by my side, and that gives me hope.

"What are you thinking, baby?" The sound of his voice coupled with the soft kiss I feel him press on my temple makes me turn my head to look at him.

"Nothing. How long have you been up?"

He helps me turn around in his arms and then kisses me deeply. "Long enough to know that you're not thinking about nothing," he says once he lets go of my lips.

I wrap my arms around his neck before smiling. "Okay, maybe I have been thinking about something," I stop, wondering whether I should tell him or not.

He kisses the tip of my nose and asks, "Won't you tell your boyfriend about it?"

His reminder of our talk the night before makes my hesitation vanish, and I kiss him this time. "I was just thinking that the morning is so beautiful today that no one should want to take this away from the people of the earth."

He lets out a sigh then smiles at me. "They won't, Bella. I promise I will do whatever I can to stop Jacob."

I nod. "I know, Edward. That's one of the things I've come to love about you—your determination."

As the words leave my lips, I see a flicker of something pass his eyes, but it's gone before I can put a name to it. He just kisses me once more and asks, "Ready to face the day, baby?"

I let the look slide and sit up. "Yeah, I need to check on Alice first. Yesterday was a hell of an emotional rollercoaster for her."

He watches me as I pick up my clothes and dress for the day. Before walking out of his room, I turn to look at him. "Are you enjoying me do the walk of shame?"

My teasing words make him smile brightly, and he winks at me. "Trust me, baby, once this whole situation is sorted, a lot of walks of shame will be in our future."

I grin at him and say, "I'll look forward to it then."

As I walk away from him, I realize the thought of _'our future'_ gives me hope as well.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

When I walk into the room Alice and I was supposed to share, I immediately know my best friend needs me. No, I don't find her crying or anything. No, what I see makes me stop in my tracks.

I see Alice lying on her side with her eyes closed and Jasper sitting on the floor in front of her with his head resting on the bed. The way I see Alice's hand rest just beside his head, I debate walking back the way I came and giving them a little privacy. But before I can take another step, I hear Alice softly call my name, "B?"

I turn back and give her a questioning look.

She slowly sits up, being careful not to wake up the sleeping man beside her, and slips out of the bed. Coming to stand beside me, she takes my hand. "Can I talk to you?"

Silently, I lead her out of the room and into the room that was supposed to be the reception area of the hospital. Giving her shoulder a light push, I make her sit on the couch there and then join her. "Talk to me, Al."

She looks at her hands for a long moment before looking up at me. "Bell, will it be weak of me if I forgive him?"

I think for a heartbeat and then ask, "Do you still love him?"

She starts to shake her head, then stops, then shrugs and finally, with a resigned sigh, nods. "Before seeing him last night, I could have sworn that I was over him. I mean I have dated other guys after he left …"

When I keep quiet, allowing her to pour her heart out, she gives me a helpless look. "But none of them were _him_, you know?"

I slowly nod, knowing what she means. "He was your _happily ever after_," I whisper the words I have heard her speak so many times after his leaving.

Alice sniffles, giving me a sad smile. "Yeah. When I saw him last night, all I wanted to slap him and shake him … to ask him why he did that to _us_." Her smile brightens for a moment as she says as an afterthought, "Nice punch, by the way."

I snort. "I did make a promise to you, Al Pacino."

She shakes her head at the silly nickname I had given her so long ago. "But I could see that he regretted leaving me from the look in his eyes. And then when we came here and found Rose, he looked so broken …"

She stops and takes a deep breath. "When you sneaked away to go to Edward," she continues, giving me a sly smirk, "He came to me. The whole night he just sat there, apologizing to me over and over. At first, I didn't even look at him. But then he said that he still loves me and … I … when I turned to look into his eyes, I could see it, B. I could feel his love for me. I know he hurt me the worst way possible, but he promised to never leave me if I give him a chance and …"

"And you want to give him a chance?" I ask softly.

She shakes her head. "No, Bell. I want to give _us_ a chance. I know he has a lot of groveling to do, and when all this is over, I am gonna have him give it to me in writing that he will _never ever_ assume to know what's best for me, but I want to give our love one more chance. Does this make me weak?"

"No, Alice," I tell her. "This makes you a girl in love. If he promises never to hurt you again, I think I can restrain my punching arm." I grin at her.

She slaps my arm and then asks, "So what's up with you and Edward?"

Just the sound of his name puts a smile on my face, and I say, "I like him … a lot. With him, I feel stronger … better. He makes me feel like I'm beautiful and when I'm with him, I feel adored."

"Isabella Swan, Truth Junkie extraordinaire, are you telling me that you've finally fallen for a guy?" Alice asks with a teasing glint in her eyes.

I don't deny it, because I can't. Instead, I give a little shrug. "Sometimes, it feels like I'm falling down that rabbit hole, but if that's what love feels like, I don't think I want the rabbit hole to end."

She lets out a soft squeal and pulls me into a hug.

We're still in mid-hug when I hear a throat clearing from somewhere close by. "I'm sorry, ladies, we didn't know you were awake already." The sound of Officer Clearwater's voice makes us look across the room, and together, we gasp.

There, standing before us, were three men in full marine gear beside Seth Clearwater. My first thought is that these men are here to capture us, but the reassuring look in Clearwater's face makes me take a breath and ask, "What is going on, Officer?"

He smiles at us and says, "These are some of the guys in Captain Whitlock's team. May I introduce Officers Quil, Embry and Jared?" He points to each man as he says their name. "They are here to join us."

Finally, I calm down and smile at the men ready to risk their lives for us. "Nice to meet you, gentlemen. I'm Isabella Swan, and this is my best friend Alice Brandon—we work for The Seattle Times."

The guy named Jared immediately turns to give Clearwater a glare. "There are journalists in this?"

Before Clearwater could respond, Alice puts her hands on either sides of her hips and says sassily, "Who the hell do you think is going to tell the world the truth about those assholes conspiring against all of us?"

Quil looks closely at me and asks, "You're not here to spy on these people?"

"Nope, we just want to help them," I say happily.

He nods and puts a hand on Jared's shoulder. "Calm down, man, we're at war here."

As if by magic, Jared calms down and even gives us an apologetic smile. When I look at Seth in question, he smiles at us. "Jared is a hot-headed ass, but once his husband tells him to calm down, he's the sweetest guy in the garrison."

We see Jared smile as Quil places a kiss on his cheek. Their sweet gesture of love makes us all smile.

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

"Rose, this is madness!" Alice and I stop at the sound of Jasper's frustrated voice before entering Rosalie's room.

I look at the tray of food in my hand and ask Alice, "Do you think we should come back later?"

"No, she needs her friends." I turn to find Emmett standing in the shadows.

"What is going on, Emmett?" Alice asks.

"Rosie has been really difficult last night," he answers, rubbing a tired hand over his face. "Telling you all about Leo reminded her of that horrible day and she couldn't sleep all night. I wish I could help her."

I feel his helplessness and walk toward him. "You really care for Rosalie, don't you?"

He nods slowly. "I grew up in a foster home. I didn't know mother's love, and seeing how Rosie loves her baby boy, I want to bring the kid back for her."

Before either of us can respond to that, the Rosalie's door opens and Jasper walks out with a broken expression on his face. He looks at the three of us standing huddled together and makes a beeline for Alice.

He stops right in front of her, and without a second thought, Alice wraps her arms around him. She holds him to her and whispers something in his ear. Their quiet moment makes me feel like I'm intruding on something private, and I turn to look at Emmett—only to find that he has slipped inside Rosalie's room.

I see Rosalie crying inconsolably in Emmett's arms as he gives me a helpless look. In silence, I turn around to leave and find Edward behind me.

He puts a hand on my cheek, and only then I realize that I have tear tracks running down my cheeks. He takes the tray of food from my hands and sets it down on a nearby desktop. Then he kisses me sweetly as if trying to take away the pain I feel for my friends … for all the people trapped in this nightmare.

He drops his forehead against mine and whispers, "Baby, we'll get through this. I don't know how, but with Carlisle on our side and with the prayers of all these people around us, how can we not?"

I nod and lay my head on his chest, believing him because the alternative sounds horrible.

"She wants to come with us," Jasper says loud enough for all of us to hear.

"What?" I ask in shock. "She didn't even have a good night's sleep. She must be exhausted. We can't take her with us in case …" I trail away, not wanting to voice the thought that we might find that the aliens have killed little Leo.

"No!" Jasper says stonily. "He's fine. He has to be. After Royce's death while she was still pregnant, she can't lose her only child."

Alice grabs Jasper's hand and looks directly into his eyes. "She won't, Jasper. We will find Leo. I can feel it in my heart."

"I think we should let her come with us." Edward's words make us all turn to him.

"Why do you say that?" Jasper asks.

"Because I think if any of us can defeat those asshole aliens, it's gonna be Rosalie. After all, a mother's wrath is something they should see before we send them back to the hell they came from."

His determined words make Jasper sigh. "You really think it's a good idea, Cullen?"

Edward nods. "Yes, I do. If we leave her here, she's just gonna drive herself crazy with worry. If she comes with us, we will have someone with us who has seen those bastards firsthand."

Jasper stands there, in quiet contemplation for a long while and then says, "All right. She comes with us."

"Then so will Emmett," I tell him, pointing toward the room where Emmett has finally managed to calm her down.

Nodding, Jasper replies, "So will Emmett."

**Unknown POV**

I dial the number and wait as the phone rings.

"What's the news?" I hear Jacob Black ask from the other end. _Stupid bastard thinks he's being funny by asking me about _news_ every time I call!_

"I have found them," I reply. "They're at the hospital where the witnesses have been put under quarantine."

He curses at that and spits into the phone, "Fucking Cullen! Always putting his nose where it doesn't belong."

I laugh at his anger. "I'm pretty sure it was Swan. She has always been hell-bent on finding the truth."

"Who told you this?" he asks.

"An informant never reveals his source, Dr. Black," I respond, thinking of the blonde hooker I had paid off to remain in the quarantine area and pretend to have seen the aliens—Lauren Mallory.

"Let's just say I had a hunch that Little Bee wouldn't be able to stay away from the mystery for long."

This time, Black laughs. "Good work, Old man. I can stop to pick you up on my way. I think you'd enjoy a front row seat to the show."

"Of course," I say. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. I want to bring two of my boys with me, if that's okay?"

"Sure. The more the merrier, I say," he replies in good humor. "See you in a few hours at ground zero for Mission: Treaty."

**EPOV**

As Captain Whitlock maneuvers the jeep through the rough terrain, I look around at the people who have been chosen to accompany us on the mission. Alice, Bella's friend, sits on the passenger seat beside Jasper. In the back with us, sits Emmett who is clutching Rosalie's hand tightly. Nothing will tell you how stressed out he is about the situation except the whitened knuckles of his hands. Rosalie, however, has a dazed smile on her face. It seems like the only thing on her mind at the moment is that she is finally going to be able to see her baby boy soon.

In the car behind us, the four marine soldiers—Seth, Jared, Quil and Embry—ride. I don't know the specifics, but it seems like when young Seth Clearwater found that we were making a stand to save the world, he called on his friends for help.

Finally, I look down at the beautiful girl sitting so close to me that she could practically be in my lap—Bella. My Bella has a small frown on her face as she holds my hand in hers.

Wanting to know what she's thinking that has her frowning, I ask, "Bella, baby, what's wrong?"

She looks at me. "I was wondering if we should have contacted my Uncle."

"Uncle Mike?" I ask. "I thought you said something about work rules."

"Yeah," she says with a shake of her head. "But it's not work anymore, is it? It's a run for our lives now."

I nudge her chin to make her look at me and kiss her softly. "Baby, if you think you should call him, you can. You're phone is charged now, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is …" she starts, but stops in mid-sentence as the said phone starts ringing. She shifts in my lap and pulls the phone out of her pocket. "Hello?"

"Isabella? You need to move into the shadows."

Carlisle's voice coming through the speaker makes Emmett jump. "Who the fuck is that?"

I put a finger on my lips, hoping to calm down his nerves a little. "Emmett, it's Carlisle. He's a friend."

Disregarding us, Bella asks into the phone, "What do you mean, Carlisle?"

"Jacob Black has found out what you are trying to do and he is coming," he replies.

"How?" I ask this time.

"He is at a clearing in the nearby forest, and the helicopter he came in is now in air looking for you."

"Do they intend to capture us or shoot us?" Jasper asks.

"The humans in the helicopter have been instructed to kill anyone seen in company of Edward and Isabella on sight."

Emmett looks wildly at the phone. "What are we going to do then?"

Before any of us could come up with an answer, Jasper stops the jeep, making the car behind us stop as well. "Everybody get out of the jeep. Now!"

Jasper's command is met with dead silence until Rosalie asks, "Why?"

He looks at his sister through the rearview mirror and responds, "Rose, you all need to go and find Leo. I will distract the choppers and when they shoot, I'll jump off the jeep and come find you."

"You're out of your mind, Jas!" Rosalie cries out.

"No, I'm being rational."

A sudden smack makes us all look at the front of the jeep and we see Alice smack Jasper on the chest once again. "You're a fucking liar, Whitlock!" she says in anger. "This morning you promised to never leave and now, you want to leave me? Again?"

Jasper grabs her hand before she can hit him again and asks, "What do you want me to do, Alice? You want me to let the fuckers kill my sister?"

"No! I want you to take me with you," Alice snaps back at him. "If I'm with you, you're not likely to take any unnecessary risks. And I just …" The words catch in her throat as the strong minded girl I have known for two days breaks down before my eyes.

"Alice, shh …" Jasper whispers, gathering her in his arms. "Fine, I will take you with me. Only if you promise to do just as I tell you. Deal?"

Shakily, she nods. "Deal." Then she turns back to look at Bella. "B, I'll see you later, okay?"

"See ya later, Al," Bella says with a sad smile on her face before turning toward Jasper. "Whatever the fuck you do Whitlock, don't die or get her killed, you hear me?"

He gives her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be taking a precious cargo with me after all."

**~*~*~*TPL*~*~*~**

We follow Carlisle's instructions and stumble through the forest to get to the clearing. The marines lead our group, wearing night vision goggles to see better in the deeming light of the dusk. A distant booming noise makes us all stop. Even without night vision, we all watch the orange flames dance in far away where the jeep must have been.

Rosalie lets out a sob and asks, "Do you think they managed to get out of the jeep in time?"

Bella places a hand on her shoulder and whispers, "I'm sure they did, Rose."

We stand in silence for a few moments before Carlisle reminds us to keep moving.

As we move forward, suddenly the Marine named Embry lets out a sigh of relief. "I can see them. They both look unharmed."

"Oh thank God!" Bella says, slumping a little against my side. Holding her to me, we wait for Jasper and Alice to join us.

After a few hugs and tears, we all set off toward the way the helicopter had gone … where I am pretty sure Jake was preparing to put his mission into action.

When we're close to the clearing, we hear distant murmurs of voices. Although I cannot discern what they're saying, the excitement in their voices is plain as the day.

Carlisle tells us to wait when we reach the border of the clearing and disconnects the call. In the flash lights they have placed around, we can see several men stand about the place, as if waiting for something. I am just about to ask Bella if she can see Jacob when she hear her intake a sharp breath.

"Bella?"

She blinks at the sound of my voice and says quietly, pointing toward one of the men standing close to where we were, "That suit—I know it."

I frown at her and she again says, "Edward, I swear, that's Uncle Mike's suit."

"What will he be doing here? Do you think Jacob has kidnapped him?" I ask.

Before she can answer me however, we see Brody, Jacob's right-hand-man, walk up to the man in suit and hand him a disposable cup. "Here, Mr. Newton, drink up. It's gonna be a long night," we hear him say.

The man named Newton laughs as he takes the cup from the asshole. "Thanks, son. I must say I'm a little disappointed with the show."

"Why?"

"Well, I thought I'd get to see Little Bells die with my own eyes, but all I could see was the jeep bursting into flames," he says, shaking his head. "I'd have loved to see her beg me for her life the way her daddy begged me before I put three bullets in his head and left him to rot near the garbage can."

I feel Bella go very stiff in my arms, and then she whispers in a hoarse voice, "Edward, Uncle Mike killed my dad."

**A/N: I bet none of you saw that coming! *Grins evilly***

**So thoughts? Hit me with them and leave a review. :)**

**In case you haven't realized it yet, this story is reaching its climactic point. A few more chapters remain till we wave goodbye to Carlisle the Friendly E.T., but I have a lot of plot bunnies bouncing around to be let out.**

**I've created a poll in my profile for you to vote which story you would like me to continue after TPL is completed. You can vote up to 3 choices. So go and vote. :D**

**Song rec for this chapter: All The Right Moves by One Republic.**

**If you haven't checked them out already, check out my new one-shot, My Perfect Gentleman and another new outtake for OTC, Just Got Prescribed. :)**

**Until next time.**

**Take care.**

**Ann**


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